This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
AFTER failing to find a buyer for its struggling John Cootes Furniture business, Elanor Investors Group will close down all of the retailers’ 12 stores by the end of 2018.
JCF’s sites are located throughout New South Wales and the ACT, in Merrylands, Penrith, Tuggerah, Prospect, Newcastle, Auburn, Campbelltown, Canberra, Wagga Wagga, Taree, Bathurst and Rutherford, and its distribution centre is located at Silverwater.
The Ashley Furniture Homestores owned by the business will continue to trade as Elanor looks to sell the Ashley Furniture component of the business as a going concern.
Elanor has acquired the business and the four properties in 2014.
“The significant increase in the competitive environment, combined with softer retail market conditions, has resulted in our decision to close the business,” Elanor chief executive officer, Glenn Willis said.
Neither the trading nor closure of JCF is expected to impact the group’s core earnings for the 2019 financial year.
Elanor said it is committed to delivering full entitlements, redundancy payments and, additionally, an ex gratia payment to the 90 full-time and 45 part-time and casual employees of JCF.
The group has been active in the investment market over the past couple of months. It offloaded the hotel, student accommodation and office precinct, the Bell City Complex in Melbourne’s Preston for $157 million, as well as a Merrylands development site mixed-use development site in Sydney for $36 million, part of the John Cootes Furniture acquisition.
In June, it paid $125.25 million to a Charter Hall fund for the Workzone West commercial building at 202 Pier Street in Perth’s CBD.
Australian Property Journal
