Up to 700 jobs are at risk after online furniture retailer Made.com filed a notice to appoint administrators as rescue talks to find a buyer for the firm failed.
The company’s shares were suspended on Tuesday and it stopped taking new orders last week. Bosses warned that cash reserves would run out if further funding could not be found to prop up the company.
Made.com was launched in 2011 and saw boosted sales during the pandemic as people stayed at home and shopped online.
However. global supply chain issues have hit the company’s delivery times and the cost-of-living crisis has seen households cut back on home furnishings.
Made.com has now appointed administrators, which means that the company is likely heading towards collapse.
The company has 10 days to find a final solution for the firm, a source told the BBC.
Two years ago, Made.com was worth £775 million when it was floated on the London Stock Exchange for the first time. Today, the business is worth £2 million.
The company employs up to 700 staff and has offices in London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, China and Vietnam.
Made.com said: “In light of MDL’s requirement for further funding, and in order to preserve value for its creditors, the board of MDL took the decision on 26 October 2022 to temporarily suspend new customer orders.
“Made has now been notified that the board of MDL has resolved to file notice of its intention to appoint administrators, with a view to appointing Zelf Hussain, Peter David Dickens and Rachael Maria Wilkinson of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as administrators of MDL.”
The firm said that PwC would look at trying to sell the firm.
It added that the board “currently expects that, in due course, the listing of the company’s ordinary shares will be cancelled, any residual value will be distributed to the company’s shareholders and the company will be wound up”.
