The Oddbins off-licence chain has officially gone into administration, putting around 500 jobs at risk. The chain’s owner, European Food Brokers (EFB), said Brexit and the resulting economic uncertainty, along with poor high street sales over the Christmas period, were to blame for the situation. EFB’s other brands – Whittalls Wines Merchants and Wine Cellar Trading – are also affected. Duff & Phelps is the…

A strong Christmas meant Oddbins performed better than expected in its first year of trading. Managing director Ayo Akintola told OLN: “At the end of the financial year in January, where we ended up being was better than where we felt we were going to be. We had a fairly impressive Christmas, and a lot of the credit for that goes to the guys in…

The newly relaunched Oddbins chain is exploring sites as it considers expanding next year.  European Food Brokers, owned by Raj Chatha, bought 37 Oddbins stores in April after the chain went into administration, and appointed Ayo Akintola, its former HR director, to run the operation.  Akintola relaunched the chain last week with a new range of wines and a strategy to give greater autonomy to…