The UK's largest furniture and kitchen retailer MFI joined Woolworths in collapsing into administration last night. MCR, the appointed administrators, are going to attempt to sell some or all of the stores as a going concern. It is thought that the retailer has already received two expressions of interest from unnamed buyers.
26 of MFI's 110 stores are to close and existing orders are to be refunded or fulfilled, it has been revealed. MFI has more than 1,000 employees.
Reasons cited for MFI's decline include a decreased demand for expensive products, the withdrawal of credit, cash-flow problems and strong competition from the likes of Ikea. The downturn in the housing market has also had an effect on major purchases such as new kitchens.
MFI last changed hands in September, which was bought by a management team led by Gary Favell, who purchased it from Merchant Equity Partners. Merchant Equity Partners bought the troubled retailer for £1 in September 2006. Both companies had failed in their efforts to turn MFI around.
The business has also been owned by Asda, who took it over in 1985 in a deal worth £563m; they went on to sell it to a management team two years later.
The furniture retailer, which was established in 1964 as Mullard Furniture Industries, began as a mail order business. Later on, the business created a manufacturing and retail division.
