Background

The following key transactions occurred shortly after our appointment:

Dixons Carphone offered roles to all people in the Phones 4U concessions located in Dixons Carphone outlets. This agreement related solely to staff and did not include the sale of any stock, chattels or the Phones 4U brand name, thereby securing continued employment for more than 800 people.

• A deal was agreed with Vodafone UK which saw the mobile network firm take on 140 of the Phones 4u stores together with preservation of 887 jobs for store employees across the UK. The stores were re-branded to Vodafone stores following a period of transition.
• A deal was agreed with EE which saw the mobile network firm acquire 58 Phones 4u stores, preserving 359 jobs. The stores were re-branded to EE following a period of transition. 

The transactions with Vodafone and EE were subject to court approval which was received allowing these transactions to be completed.

Unfortunately, due to the limited interest in the balance of the estate which comprised 362 stores, regretfully, the administrators announced that the remaining stores closed permanently and 1697 staff employed at these locations were made redundant. Another 720 people were retained in the short term to assist with the closure programme.

For a full list of store closures please see the PwC press release from 23 September 2014.

Jonathan Haigh, real estate director at PwC, confirmed the appointment of Prime Retail Property Consultants as advisers to the joint administrators on the Phones 4u property portfolio. Prime Retail's role was to assist the joint administrators' team in the identification and realisation of value from the leasehold estate. We had experienced considerable demand from parties interested in taking stores - both from retailers looking to take on lease assignments and landlords exploring lease surrenders.