Scores of jobs have been axed after north west TV rental and sales business Martin Dawes underwent a pre-pack administration.
The £11m-turnover company, based in Warrington, has been bought back by a management team led by Mr Dawes but its nine shops – including those in Manchester, Bury, Stockport and Wigan – have closed, with 89 redundancies.
A further 99 jobs have been saved. The TV rental operation continues to trade from the firm’s headquarters and online.
Other businesses in the Martin Dawes group are unaffected.
Joint administrator David Riley, of Grant Thornton, said: “The business recently branched out into the TV sales market and has struggled significantly in that area.
“Historically, Martin Dawes has always been associated with TV rental and this side of the business has remained buoyant. The pre-pack disposal was the best option in these circumstances in terms of saving as many jobs as possible and also maintaining services to the 50,000 rental customers who are completely unaffected by this announcement.”
The management team were advised by Dow Schofield Watts.