Crew Clothing acquires Saltrock Surfwear following administration

Saltrock Surfwear, a leisurewear and accessories retail brand based in Devon, has been sold to Crew Clothing Co. Group via a pre-pack administration.

David Pike and Mark Orton from KPMG were appointed joint administrators to Saltrock Surfwear Limited on 17 August. Immediately upon their appointment, they concluded a sale of the business and assets to a subsidiary of the Crew Clothing Co. Group.

Following the sale, 25 stores and 162 employees will be retained. Unfortunately, five stores will close and 29 redundancies have been made.

Commenting on the sale, David Pike, joint administrator and partner at KPMG, said: “Following recent challenges the business has faced and in line with current experience across the retail sector, the company’s management team has worked hard to try to turn the business round and formulate a rescue bid.

“The sale via ‘pre pack’ was required to provide the business with as much stability as possible by securing a new owner and finance for the business. This deal will see over 160 jobs transfer to the new owners.  Sadly a number of redundancies will be made and over the coming days, our priority is to ensure all employees who have been affected receive the information and support they need in order to claim monies owed from the Redundancy Payments Office.”

On behalf of Saltrock’s Board, James Brent added: “We are proud of the growth we’ve achieved over the last eight years, but now is the time for Crew to drive the business forward.

“We wish them and the employees every success in the future. Saltrock is a very strong brand with a great story and team behind it. We very much look forward to seeing them realise the potential of the business and are pleased that they are retaining the significant majority of staff-at head office, in the distribution centre and stores.”

David Butler, Crew Clothing’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are delighted to announce that we have acquired Saltrock the well-established Surfwear retailer with a strong South West presence and in doing so pleased to have been able to protect the future of the brand and more importantly a significant number of the current employees of the business.

“Through this transaction we have now added Saltrock to our growing and successful business portfolio. It presents us with a huge opportunity and allows us to maximise our supply chain and operations giving great potential to the Salt Rock brand. We welcome their employees to our team and we aim to make the transition as smooth as possible for them.”

The deal team was led by KPMG LLP and involved Temple Bright LLP, Osborne Clarke LLP and Addleshaw Goddard LLP.