Halfords to exit bankruptcy with slimmed down staff

Retail chain Halfords is making a downsized restart. The company announced on Tuesday that approximately 20 percent of the former employees can start working again. The trustees reached an agreement with the franchisees on a restart. The franchisees currently own more than 28 subsidiaries and will jointly purchase 17 more stores. They will also take over the stocks of nine other subsidiaries. In addition the franchisees have also bought parts of the headquarters. It is expected that the new organization will be able to offer approximately 75 to 100 former employees a job again. Both parties are still discussing the sale of 14 subsidiaries. The new organization will then consists of almost 60 stores. More clarity on this should come in mid-January of next year. *An earlier version of this story used an image of a Halfords in the U.K. The U.K. firm is no longer connected to the Dutch business. Our apologies for the error.