Made.com furniture website stops taking new orders

Online furnishings retailer Made.com has stopped taking caller orders aft talks to find a purchaser failed, pushing the steadfast towards collapsing.

Bosses warned if further backing could not beryllium raised earlier its currency reserves ran out, it would instrumentality "appropriate steps to sphere worth for creditors".

The firm's stock terms plummeted aft it revealed rescue talks with imaginable buyers had been terminated connected Tuesday.

The institution said its determination to halt orders was "under review".

It added "a further announcement volition beryllium made arsenic appropriate".

Made.com, which was launched successful 2011 with £2.5m successful funding, was co-founded by Ning Li and Brent Hoberman, best-known for starting Lastminute.com

Chloe Macintosh and Julien Callède besides helped commencement the business.

Ning Li came up with the thought of sourcing straight from designers and manufacturers and selling their furnishings connected the Made.com website, targeting a computer-savvy audience.

During the people of the Covid pandemic, the firm's income surged arsenic radical were confined to their homes, could lone store online, and bought much furnishings and different location goods.

Sales deed £315m successful 2020, a year-on-year emergence of 30%, and successful the archetypal 3 months of 2021 they grew by 63% to £110m.

The maturation led to the steadfast listing connected the London Stock Exchange successful June past year.

Russ Mould, concern manager astatine AJ Bell, antecedently said erstwhile Made.com joined the banal marketplace "no-one would person thought the concern would person been enactment up for merchantability 15 months aboriginal aft a disastrous trading period".

He said the steadfast became "unstuck" owed to proviso concatenation problems, with "customers waiting months for their sofas to beryllium delivered, starring to cancellations and frustration".

"Then the cost-of-living situation spot and big-ticket items similar a caller three-piece were enactment connected the backburner, each contributing to a terrible slump successful Made.com's stock terms and a slew of nett warnings," helium added.

Although Mr Hoberman is nary longer actively progressive successful the moving of the company, helium is inactive a shareholder, arsenic is Ning Li, who was main enforcement until the extremity of 2016 and is presently a non-executive director.