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Made.com Group Plc, the British online furniture retailer, abandoned hopes to find a rescue buyer and said it’s taking steps to try to protect its creditors and shareholders.
The company, which warned it was running out of cash, decided that there “is no reasonable prospect†for an offer and terminated the sale process. It has halted new orders to its design unit and said the board will “look to preserve value†for creditors and investors.
Made.com now appears likely to collapse, a surprisingly swift reversal for a retailer that became a favourite among millennials during pandemic lockdowns and first sold shares a year ago to great fanfare.
The London-based company, worth about £800 million when it listed, had a market value of £2 million in trading.
The retailer emerged as a winner during the pandemic as people stuck at home bought furniture online. But the move back to shopping in stores and weaker consumer sentiment — especially for big-ticket items like sofas — has hurt Made.com and pushed the shares down more than 99% this year.
—Bloomberg