Creditors

What has happened?

Like many retailers, but in particular those selling big-ticket products, the Company has been heavily impacted by significant decline in consumer spending from cost of living pressures, rising import costs and continuing supply chain pressures.

These challenges have adversely impacted the Company’s financial performance and, as a result, the availability of cash to fund working capital and operations has depleted over time. 

The Director’s have explored numerous options to try and turn the business around, as has been well documented in the press, including seeking new investment and refinancing options, and a sale of the business through a Formal Sales Process. 

However, despite their best efforts, a viable deal to secure the future of the business has not been reached. As such, and to protect value for the Company’s creditors as a whole, Rachael Wilkinson, Peter Dickens and Zelf Hussain were appointed as Joint Administrators of Made.com Design Ltd on 8 November 2022.

On appointment, the Joint Administrators completed a sale of the brand, website and intellectual property of The Company to Next Retail Limited.The Joint Administrators will now focus on achieving the best outcome for the creditors of the Company through realisation of the remaining assets. 

We appreciate these are difficult circumstances for all those in connection with the Company.

Are you a creditor of Made.com Design Limited? 

We are aware that the Company has a large number of creditors who are based across Europe.  The administration is governed by the law of England and Wales, therefore the official language used for communication, reports and our website will be English.  In order to help overseas creditors, we have translated certain pieces of information into French and German. 

Nous savons que la Société compte un nombre important de créanciers situés à travers l’Europe.  Cette administration judiciaire est régie par la loi d’Angleterre et du Pays de Galle, par conséquent la langue officielle de toute communication, des rapports et de notre site Web sera l’anglais.  Afin d’aider les créanciers étrangers, nous avons traduit certaines informations en français et en allemand.

Wir sind uns bewusst, dass eine vielzahl an Gläubigern in Europa verteilt sind. Die  Insolvenzverwaltung ist unter dem Gesetz von England und Wales geregelt, weshalb die offizielle Sprache der Kommunikation, der Berichte und der Website auf englisch sind. Um ausländische Gläubiger zu unterstützen, haben wir bestimmte Teile der Informationen in französisch und deutsch bereitgestellt.

Trade creditors 

Trade creditors will include such parties as landlords, suppliers, utility providers, transport hauliers and shippers. 

We will be contacting trade creditors shortly with details of our preferred method for creditors to submit claims and supporting documents, which is via the Turnkey (IPS) online portal.  This is the most efficient and cost effective way for us to deal with your claim and also allows you to better track its status, so we recommend the use of the online portal for claim submission.  Your unique login details will be sent to you shortly.

Employees 

We will be contacting employees separately with details of how to submit claims into the administration.

Customers 

If you are a customer, please answer the questions below to establish the routes for submitting a claim.

To register to submit to receive claim submission details please complete the attached form.

I am owed money; what notification will I receive?

The officeholder will write to all known creditors of the Company (per the creditor list obtained from the Company’s books and records) to formally notify them of the administration appointment. This will be accompanied by a general website notice informing creditors that most future documents for creditors will be posted to a website rather than being delivered by post.

Our preferred method for creditors to submit claims and supporting documents is via the Turnkey (IPS) online portal, as this is the most efficient and cost effective way for us to deal with your claim and also allows you to better track its status, so we recommend the use of the online portal for claim submission. Your unique login details will be sent to you separately. If you have any issues with the portal, see the guidance here.

Administration

The Joint Administrators will produce a report to all known creditors and members within 1 week of the appointment. This report is known as the Joint Administrators’ proposals and will outline steps taken by the Joint Administrators to date and the strategy going forwards. This report will be delivered via upload to the website following the issue of the website notice with the initial creditors letter. 

The Joint Administrators are also required to provide a written update on the administrations to all known creditors every 6 months. This report will be published on the website within one month of every 6 month anniversary or earlier if an administrator vacates office or an extension to the administration is granted.

Opting Out

Creditors have the right to elect to opt out of receiving certain documents about insolvency proceedings. Any election to opt out will not affect a creditor’s entitlement to receive dividends, should any be paid to creditors. Further details on opting out will be provided to creditors in due course.

How do I know what kind of creditor I am?

There are three main types of creditor:

• Secured (split into security via fixed/standard and floating charges);

• Preferential; and 

• Unsecured

Secured creditors have security registered at Company House. When they have a fixed/standard charge over an asset, the secured creditor will be paid out of the realisations from that specific asset, after the costs of realisation have been deducted. When they have a floating charge over an asset, the secured creditor will be paid out of the realisations from those assets, after the costs of realisation and other expenses of the insolvency procedure, the preferential creditors (see below) have been paid in full and the prescribed part (see below) has been set aside. 

Preferential creditors primarily consist of employees for arrears of wages, accrued holiday pay, unpaid contributions to occupational pension schemes and state scheme premiums, all within certain limits. As of December 2020 this will also include certain aspects of HMRC’s claim, these claims will rank as secondary preferential claims (paid after the employees claims) and consist of the VAT, PAYE and NIC deductions. Preferential creditors rank ahead of all other creditors when realisations are achieved from assets where there is no fixed charge registered. 

Unsecured creditors are all other unsecured and non-preferential creditors (with the exception of shareholders/members). These are usually the normal “trade” creditors. They rank below preferential and secured creditors, with the exception of when the prescribed part is applicable (see below). 

Shareholders / members will be the last class of creditor to receive a distribution and they will only receive a distribution after everyone else has been paid in full. 

Claims in foreign currencies

In accordance with rule 14.21 of the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016, all claims in foreign currency will be converted by the office holder as per the exchange rate at the relevant date. Please see details in the table below.

What is the prescribed part? 

When a secured creditor has a floating charge registered after 15 September 2003, a proportion of the funds available to them is set aside for distribution to unsecured creditors. This is the prescribed part. 

The prescribed part applies in this case as there is a floating charge created after 15 September 2003. The amount of the prescribed part is:

• 50% of net property up to £10,000

• 20% of net property above £10,000

• Subject to a maximum of £600,000

Insolvency legislation sets out how the prescribed part is calculated and if it is applicable further details will be provided in the officeholders’ reports to creditors. 

Estimated timeframe for reviewing my claim and paying a dividend?

The administration process is complex and it takes time to assess the Company’ position and provide an estimate of the quantum or timing for reviewing claims and making a distribution. The officeholders will include an update of dividend prospects and, if possible, a timeframe in their proposals and reports. 

Will you refund the costs incurred in preparing a claim? 

We are unable to refund the costs in preparing a claim. Consequently, we cannot refund any expenses incurred in obtaining information necessary to make a claim. If your query has not been answered by the above, please email uk_madedesign_creditors@pwc.com

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This content is for general information purposes only, and should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional advisors.

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