MORE than 1,000 jobs have been saved after the owner of the Supercuts and Regis hairdressing chains was bought out of administration.
Staff in Hampshire were among those who were left waiting for word after the company went into administration in October.
Supercuts has branches at the Marlands Shopping Centre in Southampton, Market Quay in Fareham and Gosport High Street.
Regis has salons in Osborne Mall, Fareham; Colebrook Street, Winchester; and Gunwharf Quays and Debenhams in Portsmouth.
Administrators Deloitte confirmed entrepreneur Lee Bushell supported a management buyout of Regis UK to secure 140 sites across the two brands.
But administrators were forced to close about 60 stores, leading to 200 redundancies. The Hampshire branches escaped inclusion on the closure list.
Regis’ collapse into administration came less than a year after bosses attempted to persuade landlords to give the company heavy rent cuts.
Supercuts had been struggling for the last few years and went through an insolvency process known as a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) in 2018.
It meant the company could cut its rents in an attempt to stay afloat.
The CVA process has been widely used by several high street names in recent years, including Arcadia, New Look, Mothercare and Carpetright.
But it has faced criticism from some landlords, who have claimed it was being used as a way to cut rents, instead of only being used to prevent a firm from collapsing.
The Supercuts rescue deal comes just a week after high street retailer Clinton Cards struck a deal to avoid collapse, saving 2,500 jobs nationwide.
On the Supercuts deal, Matt Cowlishaw, joint administrator at Deloitte, said: “We are pleased to have concluded the sale and for being able to preserve a significant number of jobs at two well-known brands.”
Among the branches to have closed were Regis at Beales department store in Bournemouth and Blinkers in Salisbury.
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