The Australian arm of the troubled retailer, GAME, is reportedly looking for funds to keep its 95 stores afloat after its UK parent company, GAME Group went into administration.
The struggling UK retailer went into administration yesterday, closing almost half its 609 UK stores and leaving 2104 of its 5100 employees without jobs. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has been appointed administrator and is responsible for selling the overseas operations, including Australia.
The Australian division of GAME has remained relatively quiet during recent months, declining to comment on what impact the UK collapse will have on the local business. But in a recent interview with the Australian Financial Review, local GAME managing director, Paul Yardley, said he would be working closely with PwC and the Australian management team would get to pick who bought the local division.
Yardley told the AFR that he could not rule out the possibility of store closures and job losses.
In its 2011 annual report, GAME Australia employed around 500 staff in 94 stores. In the previous year, it had closed 25 stores to reduce costs.
A PwC spokesperson said that GAME’s international divisions, which include the Czech Republic, France, Portugal, Spain, and Australia are currently operating as normal.
We will update this story as more new emerges.
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