Owner of Hotter Shoes rushing to secure £2 million to prevent collapse

The London-listed company Unbound Group, owner of Hotter Shoes, is facing going into administration if it can’t raise £2 million from share sales.

According to Sky News, the owner of Hotter Shoes is racing against the clock to secure emergency funding within days in order to implement its restructuring plan.

City sources warned that unless that funding was forthcoming "in the near future", Unbound's board would be forced to call in administrators.

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.

The company has been struggling since the pandemic and in May announced that a £10 million investment from Marwyn Investment Management had fallen through. However, despite Unbound’s ability to make a bank repayment on 31 July, the company anticipated that a temporary working capital shortfall could arise in September and October due to the planned build-up of inventory.

The group's ongoing debts include £1 million in capital payments due on 31 July 2023 and 31 January 2024. Since then, it also revealed it had experienced worsening trading conditions.

At the time, the group said that it would pause activity on its newly launched multi-brand e-commerce platform, dedicated to the 50-plus consumer, and focus on its core comfort footwear brand Hotter.

Hotter had previously entered into a CVA during the pandemic in 2020, resulting in the permanent closure of 46 stores. It now has 17 standalone stores and around 10 concessions in garden centres.