Hotter owner Unbound Group forced to appoint administrators

Unbound Group’s board is set to appoint administrators from its main operating subsidiary, Beaconsfield Footwear Limited (OpCo), after failing to raise £2 million from share sales and terminating the formal sale process.

Unbound Group, which owns Hotter Shoes, said that it was to appoint Will Wright and Rick Harrison of Interpath Advisory Limited as administrators to OpCo.

In a stock exchange announcement on 27 June, Unbound revealed that it had terminated a formal sale process for the Hotter Shoes business. It added that it had received "some positive feedback" from its major shareholders about a share sale to raise between £1.5 million and £2 million.

However, the company has been struggling since the pandemic and in May announced that a £10 million investment from Marwyn Investment Management had fallen through.

Since then, the group said that it had laid out a formal restructuring plan via an equity fundraise, however, it ultimately decided that it had no choice but to appoint administrators.

The group said it will continue discussions with interested third parties in regard to the acquisition of OpCo. The proposals are to be put forward by bidders on the basis of a sale following the appointment of administrators.

With this announcement, The Board has requested a suspension of trading in the Company's ordinary shares on AIM with effect from today, pending clarification of the Company's financial position.