Land of Leather - Westgate Retail Park - geograph

Land of Leather was a furniture

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and ...

store based in Northfleet,

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It operated in the

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The company was hit hard by the downward slope in the United Kingdom's housing market which was brought about by the decline in demand, due to a lesser number of people buying and moving homes.

History

Land of Leather, Thorp Arch (brightness modified version)

Land of Leather was founded in 1997, and in July 2005, the company was floated on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...

, with the assistance of the investment bank,

Investec Investec is an Anglo-South African international banking and wealth management group. It provides a range of financial products and services to a client base in Europe, Southern Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Investec is dual-listed on the London S ...

, using the symbol LAN. In December 2008, the company employed 850 people in its 109 stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In January 2009, Land of Leather issued profit warnings, and was planning to raise £15 million through a new share issue. In December 2008, Land of Leather's announcement that they were in buyout talks with a number of interested parties, caused their share price to rise by 38.5%. However, these talks ended later in December citing "insufficient value for shareholders".

Administration

On 12 January 2009, Land of Leather Holdings plc announced that they had entered

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...

. Lee Manning and Nick Edwards of

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professio ...

were appointed as joint administrators. The company was debt free, but it was unable to secure additional funds. The company cited reduced consumer spending and the state of the banking market at the time as the causes. The administrators are aiming to sell the company as a going concern. On 26 January 2009, it was announced that 33 stores would close, leaving 76 stores. Soon after, the remaining Land of Leather stores closed down, and the company ceased trading in the beginning of 2009.

"Toxic sofa" lawsuit

Land of Leather sold ''Linkwise'' sofas made in China, which contained sachets of the mould-inhibiting chemical DMF. This caused serious rashes to more than 300 users, due to an

allergic reaction Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, refer a number of conditions caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic derma ...

. Land of Leather had an

insurance policy In insurance, the insurance policy is a contract (generally a standard form contract) between the insurer and the policyholder, which determines the claims which the insurer is legally required to pay. In exchange for an initial payment, known a ...

with

Zurich Financial Services Zurich Insurance Group Ltd is a Swiss insurance company, headquartered in Zürich, and the country's largest insurer. As of 2021, the group is the world's 112th largest public company according to ''Forbes'' Global 2000s list, and in 2011 it ran ...

, but the insurer refused to pay out, claiming that Land of Leather had breached policy terms. This position was accepted on 18 March 2010, by the High Court of England and Wales,BBC: Judge rejects 'toxic sofa' claims in burns injury cases, 18 March 2010
/ref> and purchasers will not be indemnified by the insurer.

References

{{Authority control Furniture retailers of the United Kingdom Retail companies established in 1997 Retail companies disestablished in 2009 Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies based in Kent Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom Retail companies of the Republic of Ireland Companies that have entered administration in the United Kingdom 1997 establishments in the United Kingdom 2009 disestablishments in the United Kingdom