Flooring retailer Carpetright is considering plans to close stores across the UK, leaving staff facing uncertainty in Kent.

The troubled firm said it is looking at launching a company voluntary arrangement (CVA), a deal which would allow it to continue trading after restructuring its debts.

This would involve closing its poorly performing stores.

The business has 15 shops in the county in Ashford, Westwood Cross in Broadstairs, Canterbury, Chatham, Dartford, Dover, Folkestone, Gillingham, Gravesend, Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Sittingbourne, Strood, Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells.

If the plan is approved, it would also aim to raise between £40 million and £60 million by issuing new shares.

Chief executive Wilf Walsh blamed the firm's troubles on an "aggressive store opening strategy pursued by the company's previous leadership".

This had left it "burdened with an oversized property estate consisting of too many poorly located stores on rents which are simply unsustainable".

He said: "The company has worked hard over recent years to address this legacy issue and reduce the size of its property estate, however many of these poor performing stores still have long leases to run, which has limited our ability to exit a meaningful number in the short-to-medium term.

"The board is therefore exploring the feasibility of a CVA in order to expedite the rationalisation of its property portfolio, with the clear objective of establishing a right-sized estate of contemporary stores, on economic rents, complemented with a compelling online offer..." - Wilf Walsh, Carpetright

"While the board is confident that its brand investment and store refurbishment strategies have been, and will continue to be, successful in enabling Carpetright to respond to increased competition, it believes additional measures are necessary to directly address this legacy property issue.

"The board is therefore exploring the feasibility of a CVA in order to expedite the rationalisation of its property portfolio, with the clear objective of establishing a right-sized estate of contemporary stores, on economic rents, complemented with a compelling online offer.

"The conditional equity issue, which is intended to follow a successful CVA, would recapitalise the group and we believe provide the necessary funds to accelerate its turnaround and address the competitive threat from a position of financial strength."

He added: "In the interim, it is very much business as usual for all of our stores and we look forward to serving customers through the important Easter trading period.

"In tandem, we will remain in close contact with all colleagues to keep them fully informed as we move through this process."