United kingdom Daily news: More gloom from the High Street as Johnson Service to close down 100 dry cleaning stores

Rabu, 04 Juli 2012

More gloom from the High Street as Johnson Service to close down 100 dry cleaning stores

More gloom from the High Street as Johnson Service to close down 100 dry cleaning stores

By This Is Money Reporter

PUBLISHED: 11:43 EST, 4 July 2012 | UPDATED: 11:45 EST, 4 July 2012

Hundreds of jobs will be axed at dry cleaning chain Johnson Service Group as it is to close 100 of its 460 stores, it was announced today.

The group, which has already shut down more than 50 outlets in recent years, said the closures were part of a restructuring plan that will cost the company almost Â£24million.

The largest dry cleaning chain in the UK, Johnsons said jobs will be axed also among back office and warehousing staff, suggesting that the job cuts toll could top 300 by the end of 2012.

Gloom: Some 100 out of 460 Johnson Cleaners stores are set to close down as part of Â£24m restructuring plans

The Cheshire-based group refused to give the locations of the 100 loss-making Johnsons Cleaners stores set to shut down but they are understood to be mainly outside London and the southeast of England.

The group said a typical store has one full-time and two part-time workers.

The retailer, which has battled tough conditions on the high street, said the shops to be closed suffered like-for-like sales declines of 2.7 per cent in the first half of 2012, whereas sales at the ones to be spared were marginally positive.

The dry cleaning division's results for the first-half of 2012 will be lower than the previous year, it warned, but the restructuring will provide a platform for future profits growth.

Executive chairman John Talbot said: â€˜We believe that the measures we have taken will refocus the group into a more streamlined and profitable business.

â€˜We have confidence that our continuing dry cleaning estate will not only be able to withstand the current retail environment but make a telling contribution to the group's future performance.â€™

In recent months, it has tried new initiatives such as offering laundry, repairs, tailoring and Ugg boot cleaning at some of its stores in a bid to revitalise sales.

Johnson has been closing unprofitable high street stores and opening new sites such as its first drive-through cleaners at a former petrol station in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire.

And it has opened a pop-up branch outside a Sainsbury's supermarket in Basildon as it looks to follow the crowds away from the high street.

The group reported strong trading at its textile rental arm and said its facilities management business, which maintains shops including the UK's largest fashion group Arcadia - the operator of Topshop and BHS - had performed in-line with expectations.