Friday, March 8, 2024 | Management
Fashion e-commerce business Matches, which was acquired by retail giant Frasers in December 2023, has been placed into administration. The company was acquired by Frasers Group, which operates House of Fraser and Sports Direct, for £52 million from a subsidiary of a fund advised by Apax Partners.
At the time of the acquisition, Matches said it would work with Frasers on a growth strategy for the business, adding that it had seen a “strong trading performance despite a challenging economic backdrop” and that the acquisition would give it “access to greater scale”. will be obtained,'' he claimed. We have best-in-class retail expertise and the financial stability needed to better serve our brand partners and customers. ”
Frasers CEO Michael Murray described the company as a “leader in online luxury retail” with “incredible relationships with our brand partners” and said the partnership would allow Frasers “This will strengthen our luxury offering, further deepen our relationship, and accelerate our mission to provide quality service to consumers.” Access to the world's best brands. ”
However, less than three months later, the company was put into administration, with Frasers saying it had “consistently failed to meet its business plan targets and continued to incur significant losses despite support from the group”. “There is,” he said.
The group continued: “Matches' management has sought to find ways to stabilize the business, but restructuring the business would require too many changes and the ongoing capital requirements would be insufficient. It became clear that the amount was much higher than that amount.” It's what the group thinks is doable. ”
MATCHES was founded in 1987 and originally operated as a boutique store in Wimbledon, London. The company has since expanded into a large-scale e-commerce operation, employing over 450 designers, shipping products across the UK and to 150 countries around the world, and operating his three stores in London.
However, the company has been significantly affected by the harsh global economic environment, and for the year to January 31, 2023, it posted an operating loss of £67.2 million (compared to a loss of £37.5 million in the same period last year). Meanwhile, EBITDA losses widened to £33.7m from £25m in 2022. His total assets at the time were valued at around £170 million.
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