By Emily Hawkins
Beleaguered Made.com has said it has terminated talks with all potential buyers after no party could commit to a suitable timetable for rescue funding.
The homeware retailer had been looking to shore up aggregate funding of around £45-70m over the next 18 months as a stand-alone public company.
Consumers have pulled back on spending on big ticket items such as sofas amid a cost of living crunch.
The London-listed firm had been discussing a takeover with “a select number of parties” in the hopes of cinching firm offers by the end of October.
However, it said on Tuesday that the suitors had all now confirmed that they were “unable” to meet a necessary timetable.
The business only made its debut on the London Stock Exchange in January, with a valuation of £775m. Its share price has taken a hammering to the tune of 95 per cent over the past year to date.
Made.com said it was now “no longer in receipt of funding proposals or possible offers for the issued and to be issued share capital of the company.”
Bosses hinted that the company may be forced to call in administrators if further cannot funding cannot be raised or a firm offer is not received before it runs out of cash.
There could be no certainty that the terms of any offer or investment received will be suitable, it stressed.
Earlier this month, the firm shared widening losses after consumers slowdown on buying homeware items amid the cost of living crunch. Made posted a loss before tax of £35.3m for the six months to 30 June, versus £10.1m a year prior.
“The first half of the year was a challenging time for the global economy and particularly for the retail sector,” according to chief executive officer, Nicola Thompson.Made previously said it would start cutting costs by laying off staff within the next few weeks. It was not entirely clear how many will be impacted by the cull.
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