Currys is shutting its west London head office and signing a deal with flexible office giant WeWork in the latest sign that working patterns ushered in by the pandemic are becoming entrenched.
The high street retailer’s 1,400 head office staff will have access to more than 50 WeWork buildings around the country. Currys has taken permanent space for 400 staff in a WeWork building next to London’s Waterloo station and also plans to convert unused space in some of its stores into offices.
The deal is one of the first times that a major company has shut its headquarters and switched entirely to a flexible office provider.
WeWork leases large amounts of office space to blue-chips such as Facebook and Merck but companies tend to retain their own headquarters in tandem.
Widespread labour shortages, particularly acute in tech-related roles, are giving employees the whip hand in negotiations with employers over where and how they work.
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Chief executive Alex Baldock said Currys wasn’t just “paying lip service” to hybrid working and was implementing changes employees wanted to see.
The retailer is pushing ahead with the move despite being tied to the lease on its offices in Acton, west London.
Today, about half of WeWork’s space is designed for co-working and the other half for corporate clients. Chief executive Sandeep Mathrani expects that eventually 80 per cent will be taken by large corporates.
Flexible working and more onerous environmental standards are expected to make many older office buildings obsolete. Property investors are increasingly focused on modern offices with flexible space.
Magazines printer hangs for-sale sign
The printer of the Telegraph’s Stella magazine and the Mail on Sunday’s You supplement appears to be on a shaky financial footing after calling in advisers to handle a sale, writes Sabah Meddings.
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YM Group, which is based in Yorkshire, is reported to have asked FRP Advisory to hunt for a buyer, as the company filed notice of its intention to put three of its subsidiaries into administration on Friday. Applications for YM Chantry, York Mailing and Pindar (Scarborough) Limited, which relate to manufacturing plants, were all lodged in the High Court. The parent company YM Group, which is also responsible for the Waitrose & Partners Feast magazine, is reportedly unaffected.
Stephen Goodman, the chief executive of YM Group, did not respond to a request for comment this weekend, but told the trade publication Printweek that FRP had been appointed in an “advisory role”. “This is by no means certain that administrators will actually be appointed,” he said. The website reported that FRP was running a “fast-track” sales process.
In its most recent accounts, for the year to May 2020, YM Group reported sales of £114.8 million and made a pre-tax loss of £8.3 million. The company suffered from a pandemic-induced hit to performance.
Morrisons in wings as McColls falters
Convenience store chain McColls has less than two weeks to stave off a collapse that could put as many as 15,000 people out of work, writes Sam Chambers.
The retailer is locked in discussions with key supplier Morrisons and its syndicate of lenders. Morrisons, which is being advised by the investment bank Houlihan Lokey, is said to be exploring a deal to acquire parts of the business. McColls needs an outline refinancing plan within days for its auditors to be able to sign off last year’s accounts as a going concern.
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Morrisons is seen as unlikely to launch a full takeover offer but could acquire chunks of the McColls estate, potentially through a break up or insolvency. Morrisons has retention of title over £50 million of stock tied up in McColls.
McColls, which trades from more than 1,100 stores, has about £170 million of debt provided by banks including Barclays, HSBC and NatWest. Santander offloaded its part of the debt to hedge funds, reportedly recovering between 70p-80p in the pound. In the event of an administration lenders would be forced to take a big cut on their debts.
Chief executive Jonathan Miller stepped down this week to ease the path to any restructuring. Shares closed on Friday at 2.2p, valuing the company at just £6 million.