HUNDREDS of employees at a car dealership which has its headquarters in Basingstoke have been made redundant after the company was placed in administration because of "poor trading".

City Motor Holdings (CMH) has announced that 267 employees had lost their jobs after the firm, which also has offices in Newbury and Reading, was handed over to administrators.

Last week The Gazette reported how both CMH SEAT and CMH Skoda, based at the Houndsmill Estate site, off Aldermaston Road South, had closed and the company was contemplating going into administration.

Steve Absolom and Will Wright, from KPMG Restructuring, have been appointed joint administrators to CMH and associated companies, which together operate a total of 13 new and approved used car dealerships across the Thames Valley region.

Mr Absolom, joint administrator and director at KPMG, said: “While industry figures indicate that the number of new car registrations in the UK has remained consistently high over the last two years, the number of nearly-new and used cars also coming to market has put pressure on motor dealerships around the country.

“Against this backdrop and after a sustained period of poor trading, the directors of City Motors Holdings took the difficult decision to close its operations and call for the appointment of administrators.”

Mr Wright, joint administrator and KPMG Partner, said: “Over the coming days, our principal focus is on supporting employees with their redundancy claims and working with the vehicle manufacturers to effect an orderly closure of the business.”

For more details see tomorrow's newspaper.