Ananova:

Around 450 staff at ailing retail chain Woolworths are being made redundant, the administrator has announced.

The cuts will affect almost half the workers at the firm's head office and support operations in London and Castleton, Rochdale.

Administrator Deloitte says no jobs have been lost in Woolworths' high street stores or distribution centres.

The news comes as the retailer holds its "biggest ever" sale, with up to 50% slashed off the price of goods.

The discounting follows an unsuccessful bid for the firm by Dragons' Den entrepreneur Theo Paphitis.

Under the terms of the proposed deal he would have kept the Woolworths name and a large number of stores.

Mr Paphitis said he thought the business will now probably be broken up as this would raise more cash for creditors.

However, Deloitte says talks are continuing with a number of parties interested in buying Woolworths as a going concern.

Highlights of the sale include up to 50% off toys and greeting cards and 30% off Christmas trees.

Woolworths' 813 stores will stay open during the festive season but doubts are growing over the future of thousands of jobs - the firm employs almost 30,000 staff.

Meanwhile, Deloitte said it was working to safeguard supplies at Woolworths' distribution arm EUK, which is also in administration.

Earlier this week, music and DVD retailer Zavvi told online customers the situation at EUK made it difficult to secure the availability of products.

Deloitte said "constructive talks" were taking place with both suppliers and customers of EUK to ensure arrangements to resume business.

Woolworths' publishing business 2Entertain, a joint venture with the BBC's commercial arm BBC Worldwide, is trading normally.

The sale at Woolworths follows massive discounting by other major stores including Marks & Spencer and Debenhams in a bid to reverse the slump in the high street.

:: Rail freight company EWS is to axe 530 jobs. The Doncaster-based firm says the downturn has led to a drastic cut in goods moving by rail.