Apollo 2000 jobs are lost

Stunned staff arrived at work to be told by administrators from KPMG the shops were closing. Will Wright, a director of KPMG, said the company, with branches in the Black Country and Staffordshire, blamed falling sales.

He also pointed at the slump in the housing market slump.

The administrators were called in today after the failure of a last-minute rescue attempt.

The chain, which sells washing machines, cookers, fridges, TVs and a wide range of other electrical goods, has a dozen branches nationwide.

Nearly all the 180-strong employees of the Birmingham-based business have been made redundant immediately and all the stores closed.

In Wolverhampton 14 people at the St John's Retail Park store have lost their jobs, along with 14 at the Cannock site on the Orbital Retail Centre and 16 more at the Handsworth store in Birmingham.

The company is also a sponsor of Worcestershire County Cricket Club.

Shocked and angry staff were still standing around the doors of the closed stores today. Marc Warklate, 44, of Laurence Avenue, Wednesfield, who has worked at the Wolverhampton shop for five years, arrived for his 11am shift to find the administrators' notice on the door. He said he had been told he would not be paid his wages for this week and that any money staff were owed would have to be claimed back through the Government.

KPMG's Will Wright said: "The group has been adversely impacted by the downturn in the property market and the general decline in retail sales. Despite the directors' best efforts to secure a sale or refinancing of the group and its trading subsidiaries prior to our appointment, they have been unsuccessful. Following our appointment we have had no option but to cease trading these businesses immediately, regrettably resulting in a number of redundancies.

"I would urge the small number of affected customers of Apollo 2000 to use the customer helpline as soon as possible to ensure a quick response to their queries," he said.