Phil Elliott 13:16 (BST)
05/12/2008

The company controlling the assets of Woolworths, while the high street general store chain is in administration, has revealed that it has made "a number of redundancies" in its support operations, but that there have so far been no cuts made to staff working in stores, distribution, or at Entertainment UK.

The losses will be suffered by the Marylebone Road, London and Castleton, Rochdale offices, and will total around 450, of a total company-wide headcount of 25,000.

Joint administrator and reorganisation services partner at Deloitte, Neville Kahn, added that he expected Woolworths stores to be open beyond the Christmas period, and that staff would be paid in full for their work.

"The stores and distribution centres will continue to trade as normal, but with a simplified core structure supporting them going forward," he said. "The administrators, supported by management, are still actively seeking a purchaser for the business as a going concern, with discussions being held with a number of interested parties.

"We are working hard to ensure that any sale of the business, in whole or in part, will preserve jobs. We have today launched Woolworths' Biggest Ever Sale, which is complementary to and will not adversely impact upon our efforts to sell the business.

"We are extremely grateful to the staff and management for their continued support at this difficult time. We would also like to thank the Job Centre and Insolvency Service for their cooperation and help."

There is no official word on who potential buyers might be, although it is believed a number of parties have displayed interest, while some sections of the videogames retail community has suffered from the EUK problems.