Collapse of double glazing tycoon’s chain puts 2,000 jobs at risk

THOUSANDS of jobs are at risk after a double-glazing tycoon known for bankrolling the search for Madeleine Mccann pulled the plug on his homeimprovement business.

Brian Kennedy expects to draft in administrators next week to take over Kairos Group and has already stopped selling its products.

Cheshire-based Kairos sold its products through retailers including the double-glazing firms Penicuik and St Helens Glass.

Kairos, which employs 2,000 staff, previously collapsed last year and was bought by Mr Kennedy’s private equity business Latium in a rescue deal. The business was previously known as Entu before it first went into administration in 2018 and was listed on London’s junior AIM market.

Mr Kennedy is worth £275m according to the Sunday Times Rich List. He owned the Premiership rugby club Sale Sharks for 16 years.

The 59-year-old previously helped fund a search for Madeleine Mccann by her parents, after she went missing in Portugal in 2007, aged three.

Kairos made sales of £75.9m for the year to last October but lost £470,000. Latium claims to have revenues of more than $1bn (£780m).

Adrian Kirk, a director at Kairos, said: “We were hoping to continue longer with a sales process of the business we were undertaking but unfortunately we have to close prematurely.

“Our bank has taken the decision to withhold over £300,000 for jobs we have fitted over the last two weeks.

“This money was earmarked for customer deposits, employees and selfemployed subcontractors and the ability to finish all outstanding installations. The directors are devastated by this decision and it has left us no option but to close.”

Separately, London-based jewellery seller Links of London made 38 staff redundant yesterday at its headquarters in the capital.

Links appointed administrators from Deloitte earlier this month after its owners, the Greek retail group Folli Follie, failed to find a buyer.

The company was set up by husband-and-wife team John Ayton and Annoushka Ducas in 1990.

Deloitte’s Matt Smith said yesterday: “While we continue to talk to interested parties about a sale of the business, the ongoing cash-flow pressures mean the current cost base is not sustainable.”