Former MatchesFashion boss Nick Beighton has branded the company’s administration as “unnecessary”.
The ex-chief executive, who left the business last month, believes there was still a chance to turnaround the luxury ecommerce platform before owner Frasers Group placed it into administration.
“Frasers did what Frasers did. It’s their choice as shareholders. It wasn’t necessary in my opinion,” he told the audience at the Retail Technology Show.
“It’s no secret that Matches was struggling for four or five years. We took it and I brought a team in because it was a great British ecommerce business,” said Beighton, who was previously CEO of Asos.
“I was there about 14 months before the acquisition to Frasers. We were making progress, starting to trade well and doing great stuff.”
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However, he pointed out that Matches did require another level of working capital investment. “It was the same number that was in the diligence pack before [Frasers] bought it.”
The Mike Ashley-controlled group placed Matches into administration less than three months after buying it in a cut-price deal for £52m.
Frasers said the platform had “consistently missed its business plan targets and, notwithstanding support from [Frasers], has continued to make material losses”.
A new administrators report from Teneo revealed yesterday that Burberry, Gucci and Saint Laurent are among the creditors owed £36m, with hundreds of suppliers likely to receive less than a penny in the pound.
Matches’ administration has also raised further questions over the longevity of luxury retail online, following the Farfetch’s pre-pack deal to South Korean ecommerce giant Coupang late last year.
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