Courts (brand)

Unicomer Caribbean Holding Co. Ltd

Company type	Private
Industry	Retail
Founded	1850
Area served	Antigua and Barbuda Barbados Belize Curacao Dominica Grenada Guyana Jamaica St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent Trinidad and Tobago United States
Owner	Unicomer Group
Website	courts.com

Courts is a furniture and electronics retailer, founded by William Henry Court in Canterbury, England in 1850.

In 1959, Courts opened its first store in Jamaica, and subsequently grew across the Caribbean. In 2004, Courts went into administration in the United Kingdom. Its Caribbean operations were acquired by Unicomer Group in 2006, who now operate Courts across 12 countries.^[1]

History

Courts was founded in 1850, by William Henry Court, with a single store in Canterbury, England.^[2] In 1945, the company was sold to the Cohen brothers, who began to expand the business. Hire purchase terms were offered from 1946. Courts was listed on London Stock Exchange in 1959. By this stage, Courts had thirty four retail stores in the United Kingdom.

In 1959, Courts expanded into the Caribbean, and opened its first store in Kingston, Jamaica. By 1965, a further store was opened in Barbados, and the product range was diversified to include electricals. Courts Jamaica listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange in 1969. In 1978, Courts Barbados listed on the Barbados Stock Exchange.

Courts expanded into Fiji and Singapore in 1971.

In December 2001, after Courts breached a number of its banking covenants, the company's banks appointed PwC to safeguard their debts.^{[citation needed]}

On Monday 29 November 2004, shares in Courts plc were suspended at 13.5p and the company went into administration,^[3] with debts of £280 million. PwC earned record fees for both pre administration and post administration work.^{[citation needed]} The reasons given for entering administration were a fall in sales in the country, combined with the financial cost of the damage caused by Hurricane Ivan to the company's Caribbean arm.

The administration caused public controversy, because the sudden store closures had seen a number of outlets almost besieged and in some cases damaged by angry customers and left thousands of customers out of pocket, without the furniture they had ordered and deposits they had paid. SB Capital, owners of Furnitureland, acquired the largest number of branches.

All stores in the United Kingdom were closed, and overseas subsidiaries were sold. Courts plc was dissolved as a company.

A store branded Courts Caribbean is located in Jamaica, New York to serve Caribbean immigrants living in the United States wishing to send gifts to family members in their countries of birth. The American store positions itself as an ethnic and nostalgic brand.^[4] As of November 2023, there are four Courts stores in the US, located in Jamaica, Brooklyn, The Bronx and Miramar, Florida.

Other companies using the Courts name

Asia

The Malaysia and Singapore operations (which had previously operated stores in Indonesia and Thailand) were consolidated under Courts Asia Ltd, which has since opened new stores in Indonesia. Courts Asia was acquired by Nojima Corporation in 2019.^[5] Courts branded stores also operate under separate ownerships in Fiji and Papua New Guinea. Courts also makes furniture in Fiji taking advantage of locally grown Mahogany.

Africa

BAIC-subsidiary Bramcom Holding acquired the Mauritius and Madagascar operations, and co-founded Victoria Courts in Kenya in partnership with Nairobi-based Victoria Furnitures.^[6] Following the collapse of BAIC in 2015, the Mauritius stores were acquired in a management buyout, after a failed acquisition attempt by Courts Asia.^[7]

References

External links

• https://www.shopcourts.com/
• https://www.courts-usa.com/
• https://www.courtsnojima.com/
• https://www.courts.co.id/
• https://www.courts.com.fj/
• https://www.courts.com.pg/
• https://www.courtsmammouth.mu/
• https://www.victoriacourts.co.ke/

This page was last edited on 28 January 2024, at 18:04