BEDROOM CHAIN SAVED

STRUGGLING British bedroom furniture chain Feather & Black has been rescued by a Swedish multinational.

Hilding Anders, a manufacturer of beds, yesterday bought the business – saving 104 of 123 jobs and 17 of its 20 stores. It collapsed last month, with Duff & Phelps appointed administrators but the firm continuing to trade. Its demise was blamed partly on the squeeze on spending with shoppers not buying more expensive items such as furniture.

Pepyn Dinandt, chairman and chief executive of Hilding Anders, said the firm would still trade under the name Feather & Black.