Courts' foreign exit

KPMG, the administrator to collapsed furniture retailer Courts, has held a beauty parade of advisers in advance of a sale of its international business.

Courts called in the administrator in November after failing to turn round the fortunes of the struggling British arm of the company.

But while retail specialist SB Capital took over the running of the 88 British stores pending a winding down of domestic business, KPMG is now on the verge of appointing a separate bank to deal with the sale of Courts' profitable operations in the Caribbean and Asia-Pacific.

The two parts of the overseas arm stretch from St Lucia to Barbados and Thailand to Singapore and have performed well. Big local employers, they also sell financial services and electrical products.