Furniture, kitchen and appliance retailer MFI has gone into administration citing falling demand for big ticket items, cash-flow problems and the withdrawal of credit.
Some stores will continue to trade, but 26 will close. Existing orders will be either met or refunded, MFI have said this evening.
MFI’s administrators told the BBC they had received two expressions of interest from potential buyers.
The firm, subject of a management buy-out in September, has 110 stores and a workforce of more than 1,000 people. Analysts said that the downturn of the housing market was a major contributor to MFI’s decline, people stopped buying things such as new bathrooms and kitchens.
Comments circulating on the internet through this evening from customers and employees seem to suggest that this is not unexpected and that MFI has faced difficulty in paying suppliers and subcontractors for work and goods.
We had heard unconfirmed reports that MFI has struggled to gain credit from many suppliers within the appliance industry due to a removal of credit insurance when the split from Galiform took place.
Also, we have heard that one of the landlords pressing for payment is Galiform, MFI’s former owner who split Howdens Joinery from the MFI business completely earlier this year, shortly before MFI first entered into administration.
Service agents as well as bathroom and kitchen fitters appear to, at this point, remain unpaid.
There is also problems in obtaining many spare parts for appliances in particular sold by MFI due to the position with MFI itself but also the fact that MFI also used Antonio Merloni as a supplier of many appliances. Of course Antonio Merloni, who trades as Servis in the UK, also entered into administration recently making spare parts supplies tenuous at best for some machines. Should you require spare parts for any appliance purchased from MFI please expect delays that, for now, are unavoidable and beyond anyone’s control.
This will of course affect anyone seeking repairs or servicing on primarily Hygena and Diplomat branded appliances.
The position with warranties, other than those from Domestic & General which will be honoured, is unclear at the present time and it is not known whether they will be honoured or not.