But the company has hit the buffers again, with joint administrators now appointed. The company has 300 Ethel Austin and Au Naturale homeware stores across the UK, employing 3714.

Although the administrators were not able to say how many jobs were involved in the Tayside and Fife outlets, it’sunderstood they employ close to 50.

Geoff Bouchier, a partner with administrators, MCR, said, “The joint administrators are trading the companies in administration in the short term with a view to finding a purchaser for the businesses as a going concern.

“In the current economic climate there are no guarantees that purchasers will be found.

“We are reviewing the financial position of the companies and are, at this stage, unable to rule out store closures and redundancies.”

The administrators added the stores were trading as normal and that would remain the case for around a week.

A spokesman added, “We are sure potential buyers will come forward to start the (buying) process.”

The economic recession has left the company struggling to find financial backers, which has affected the ability to generate sales.

This was compounded by poor trading conditions last month, attributed to the severe winter weather.

The administrators said the companies continued to seek additional finance up until recently but had met with no success.

Ethel Austin has a nationwide network of shops.

The business was established more than 70 years ago and has its head office at Knowsley on Merseyside, 10 miles from where the business was founded by Ethel Austin herself.

The Dundee store is in the Wellgate Centre, the Kirkcaldy outlet in High Street and the Arbroath and Glenrothes shops in the Abbeygate and Kingdom shopping centres respectively.

The Ethel Austin store in Blairgowrie was a casualty of the previous administration process, closing in spring, 2008, and an Au Naturale at Kingsway Retail Park, in Dundee, also closed last year.