UK electrical retailer Comet collapses into administration in 2012

Comet, a long-established British retailer of televisions, washing machines and other household electricals, entered administration on 2 November 2012. Administration is a UK insolvency process in which outside accountants take control of a failing company to try to rescue or sell it. The administrators were from the firm Deloitte.

The chain had been losing money for some time, squeezed by falling consumer spending, competition from online sellers and supermarkets, and a weak housing market that hit demand for big appliances. It had been sold the previous year by its former owner, Kesa Electricals, to the private equity firm OpCapita. Suppliers and credit insurers became increasingly wary, which made trading harder.

Around 6,600 jobs were put at risk across more than 200 stores and the head office. No buyer for the whole business emerged, and the stores were closed in stages after closing-down sales, with many staff made redundant. The collapse was one of the most prominent high street failures of the period and left the Comet name without a trading business.