Next is frontrunner to buy Made.com

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 6, 2022

Made.com is expected to go into administration on Monday and to be quickly bought out, with Next being touted as the frontrunner to buy the business.

However, it doesn’t have the field to itself with others having bid for the furniture specialist that also owns Trouva. Acquisitive Frasers Group is believed to have Made in its sights too.

Reports suggested Next had bid around £2 million for the website, brand and other assets. It’s a sharp comedown for a business whose shares plunged to zero but were worth almost £2 each in the middle of last year.

Whoever takes control of the brand, the firm’s 500 staff are likely to lose their jobs.

It’s unclear what will happen to the stock the firm holds and to any outstanding customer orders that have been paid for, but the prospects for the latter don’t look good.

Made has been struggling for months and confirmed last week that it would file for administration after its efforts to find new backing failed.

Founded in 2010 with the aim of making higher-end furniture accessible to more people, the business has sales of £315 million in 2020 and its London Stock Exchange listing saw it valued at £775 million.

But external issues and missteps from within the company caused a rapid decline. Yet as recently as May, it was upbeat and announced it was buying Trouva “to advance the group's growth strategy”.

London-based Trouva is a platform for independent boutiques and brands, selling curated fashion, lifestyle and homewares. Made said the “enlarged group will leverage scale and marketing efficiency and expertise to improve the financial performance,” despite Trouva being loss-making.