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Birmingham Post
Birmingham Post
Business
Jon Robinson

How Missguided collapsed owing more than £80m before being rescued by Frasers Group

Online fashion brand Missguided collapsed into administration owing more than £80m before it was rescued by Frasers Group, it has been revealed.

Newly-filed documents with Companies House by administrator Teneo have also confirmed that Missguided's suppliers are expected to be paid less than 2% of the £30m they are owed.

The Manchester-based business will pay out less than 1.7p in the pound to factory owners, the documents show.

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Missguided's debts had risen from £57m in 2021 while its underlying losses, before debts and accounting adjustments had widened to £37m from £10m.

Teneo said that there was "no prospect" of any funds being returned to unsecured creditors, who are owed £46m in total.

However the firm added that there will be "sufficient asset realisations" to repay the preferential creditors, employees owed wages, holiday pay and pension contributions, in full.

Nitin Passi, founder of Trafford Park-based online fashion business Missguided (Publicity picture sent by firm)

As of May 30, Missguided employed 234 members of staff. A total of 147 were transferred to Frasers group but 87 were made redundant at the end of May.

Its debt facilities included £58m from Alteri Investors and two £10m facilities and a €4.4m provided by Nitin Passi's father Najib.

Advisory firm Teneo also said it is considering legal action to pursue repayment of a £595,000 loan made to Rajib Passi.

The documents also show that Rajib Passi is not expected to be repaid any of the £24.7m he loaned Missguided.

His son has also agreed to repay a loan of £333,000 he took from the company. Alteri Investors will receive at least £18m of the £58m it put into Missguided.

In the administrator's report Teneo said: "As with many online retailers, it experienced strong growth during lockdowns as a result of Covid-19 with revenue peaking in 2021 at £287m.

"However, following the easing of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, the group experienced a softening of customer demand reflecting a rebalancing in the sector between online and physical retail shopping habits.

"In addition to this, the business also experienced cost inflation, particularly in USA distribution costs, which increased by £24m (88%) in FY21."

Missguided is one of the UK's most popular online fashion retailers (JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images)

In December 2021, Alteri Investors provided a £58m senior secured facility to help Missguided with the "cash flow issues" it faced.

Following that Missguided reduced its creditor stretch from £33.4m in November 2021 to £7.7m as of March 2020 and decreased its stock levels from c.£20m in December 2021 to c.£14m in May this year.

It also cut 128 fixed term employees, renegotiated fulfilment contracts per unit from £1.30 to £1.10 and re-tendered US and EU distribution contracts.

Teneo added: "Despite the cost saving initiatives and operational improvements, customer demand remained below management's expectations and the group faced further liquidity challenges.

"As a result of the liquidity challenges the group commenced a formal sales process in early 2022 to seek a funder to provide financial and operational support."

Teneo was appointed to lead that search but by the end of April "It was apparent that a bid for the business on a solvent transaction basis was unlikely to be forthcoming", the firm said.

The company entered administration at the end of May after the sales process failed.

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