Courts plc

Courts plc
A Courts store in Bridgetown, Barbados (2010).

Courts was a retailer of furniture from the United Kingdom and also had stores in the Caribbean and in Asia. It was founded in 1850. Until the late 1990s Courts had also sold electrical goods. It was known for an advertising campaign in the 1980s and 1990s that featured Bruce Forsyth dressed as a judge ("I'll see you in Courts!"). After this it advertised with a singer singing the "Courts you can" song. Courts had 350 stores worldwide with 100 in the United Kingdom which were mostly located in retail parks with some on high streets.

Contents

Administration

In December 2003 Courts PLC breached a number of banking covenants; PWC were appointed by banking syndicate to safeguard its debts. On Monday, 29 November, 2004 shares in Courts plc were suspended at 13.5p and the company went into administration[1] and PWC were appointed administrators with debts of £280 million. PWC earned record fees for both pre-administration and post-administration work. The reasons given to appoint administrators was because of a fall in UK sales and Courts had been hit by the damage caused by Hurricane Ivan to its Caribbean arm. The administration caused public controversy because the sudden store closures had seen a number of outlets almost besieged and in some cases damaged by angry customers and left thousands of customers out-of-pocket and without the furniture they had ordered and deposits they had paid. SB Capital owners of Furnitureland acquired the largest number of branches. Today all branches of Courts in the United Kingdom have been sold off or closed down but there continues to be a presence in the Caribbean and Asia.

Timeline

Courts history:[2]

  • 1850 – Courts founded in Canterbury, England, by William Henry Court
  • 1945 – Courts sold to the Cohen brothers who began to expand the business
  • 1946 – Courts introduced hire purchase terms
  • 1959 – First overseas Courts store opened in Kingston, Jamaica
  • 1959 – Courts listed on London Stock Exchange. By this stage Courts had 34 retail stores in the UK
  • 1965 – Courts opened first store in Barbados and diversified product range to include electricals
  • 1969 – Courts Jamaica listed on local stock exchange
  • 1971 – Courts entry into the Pacific Ocean (Fiji) and Singapore
  • 1978 – Courts Barbados listed on local stock exchange
  • 2006 (December) – Regal Forest Holdings Limited, a retailer of El Salvador assumed ownership of the 11 Caribbean businesses formerly owned by Courts PLC.

References

  1. ^ "Courts to go into administration". BBC News Online. 29 November 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4052439.stm. 
  2. ^ Courts Homecentres, Fiji

External links


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