South African retail chain owner to save most Postie Plus jobs

Postie Plus staff in Northland can breathe a sigh of relief.

Whangarei's Postie Plus store at Okara Shopping Centre and stores at Waipapa and Kaitaia have been sold and will continue trading after the previous owners went into voluntary administration.

Postie Plus staff in Northland can breathe a sigh of relief after an international retail group bought the financially-troubled retail outlet.

Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) were appointed administrators at Postie Plus Group in early June after its lenders withdrew support as the company continued to incur losses. Postie Plus has 16 workers at its Whangarei, Waipapa and Kaitaia stores and a further four in Wellsford.

David Bridgman and Colin McCloy, the administrators of Postie Plus, said they have completed the sale of the Postie Plus business to Roan Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pepkor Ltd. The sale involves the transfer of the Postie Plus Auckland head office and 64 retail stores located throughout New Zealand to the new owners, with more than 530 of Postie's approximately 560 staff having accepted positions with the new owner.

The administrators said Pepkor is a well established apparel and footwear retailer, originally based in South Africa, and now with retailing operations throughout Southern Africa, in Eastern Europe and Australia where its operations include the Best & Less and Harris Scarfe chains.

"We are very pleased to have been able to complete the sale of the Postie Plus business as a going concern within six weeks of our appointment as administrators. We believe this sale is in the best interests of all creditors and Postie Plus staff," Mr Bridgman said.

"Many of the Postie Plus suppliers will be able to continue trading with Postie Plus under its new ownership with all of the Postie Plus Auckland-based head office and the majority of its retail staff offered employment with the new owner."

Voluntary Administration achieved a better outcome for creditors than would have occurred had the company been placed in receivership, the administrators said."