Staff Cut, Stores Closed As Allphones-Admins Look For Buyer
Details have begun to emerge about the radical cuts facing Allphones’ staff and retail presence in the wake of the company going into administration with PPB Advisory on Monday.
At the time the news broke, hundreds of employees from the company’s eighty stores are said to be uncertain about their future with the company.
ChannelNews can now confirm that 69 staff have lost their jobs and 18 Allphones stores shuttered.
Reports say the remaining 66 will continue to operate while PPB attempts to find a buyer for the troubled retail chain.
“We are today undertaking an urgent review of Allphone’s business in order to stabilise the current operations and store network, and ensure that the employees impacted by the store closures today are fully supported,” PPB’s Phil Carter said in a statement.
“Our immediate priority is to work with Allphones’ staff, franchisees, licensees and other key stakeholders to allow the remaining store network to continue trading on a business as usual basis,” he said.
The parent company of the chain, which calls itself “Australia’s largest independent telecommunications retailer”, announced an “impairment” of $25 million in 2014 after it lost a contract to run 45 Virgin-branded outlets across Australia.
That impairment, in combination with Optus’ withdrawal of stock from Allphones stores is currently believed to have set the company on a downward spiral.
ChannelNews has reached out to Allphones but received no response aside from an automated message indicating that the company’s support line was currently unstaffed.
