UPDATE 1-Allied Carpets in administration; jobs to go

LONDON, July 17 (Reuters) - Britain's second largest carpets retailer Allied Carpets has gone into administration, putting at risk up to 1,100 jobs.

Business restructuring firm BDO Stoy Hayward said it had been appointed administrator of the retailer's trading unit AC (UK) Ltd and its property unit Allied Carpet Properties Ltd.

It said upon its appointment 51 stores and Allied Carpets' insurance inspection business were immediately sold to Allied Carpets Retail Ltd, safeguarding about 400 of the group's 1,500 staff.

BDO said it hoped some of the remaining 166 stores will be acquired by the new business over the next two weeks after negotiations with landlords.

'Allied Carpets is a well established brand in the marketplace but like many other companies, has suffered because of the economic climate and difficult trading conditions,' said Dermot Power, a partner at BDO.

(Reporting by James Davey, editing by Mark Potter) Keywords: ALLIED CARPETS/ ([e-mail]; [phone]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.