The administrators called in to troubled electrical retailer Shop Electric have made 285 staff in Northern Ireland redundant.

KPMG's joint administrator of the parent company Northern Retail (Northern Electric) and Shop Electric, Richard Fleming, said: “Unfortunately, we have had no choice but to make 117 staff in the UK, and 285 staff in Northern Ireland redundant.

“However, notwithstanding these redundancies, we hope to open up a number of stores in both the UK and Northern Ireland next week to offer a sale of remaining stock. At the same time, we continue to seek buyers for the remaining stores that are closed (while in administration) as going concerns.”

A call centre has been set up to handle all customer inquiries, the telephone number is 0845 6040516.

Customers who have paid for goods on their credit cards and who have not received them, are strongly advised to contact their credit card provider.

The administrators were called in to Shop Electric Group plc, the holding company, and its two trading subsidiaries: Northern Retail Limited (trading as Northern Electric), and B2C Support Services Ltd, on Friday, October 31.

(SP)