Eve Sleep hires administrators after failed sale process

Online mattress retailer Eve Sleep has called in administrators after it failed to secure a buyer or fresh funding following a strategic review.

The company, which floated on the stock market in 2017 with a £140 million valuation, has witnessed a slide in customer numbers and increased cost pressures in recent years.

Eve’s board said it has now hired Matthew Ingram and James Saunders of Kroll Advisory as administrators as a “necessary step to preserve value for creditors”.

The retail firm said the outcome for creditors is unknown but added that it “is not expected” there will be “any return to the shareholders of Eve” after hiring the insolvency specialists.

In June, the business said it was on the lookout for a buyer or new investor as it warned it would miss revenue targets for the year following a significant consumer downturn.

Bosses said they were in talks with a US investor that was interested – at least for a while – in making a bid to take the company private, but discussions later lapsed.

The board launched a formal sale process as a result and received “a number of indicative offers”, but, following further discussions and due diligence, was unable to secure a deal.

Eve Sleep chief executive Cheryl Calverley said: “It is heartbreaking to have to acknowledge that the best way to preserve value for creditors, those partners and suppliers that have helped us on this journey, is to now terminate the formal sale process and appoint administrators.

“Having seen the year start so brightly, with the efforts of the team over the past three years in rebuilding Eve into a business fit for profitable growth coming to fruition, the frustration at the unprecedented downturn in the market over February and March was felt all the more keenly.

“Despite monumental efforts to restructure the business and reshape the cost base, the scale of Eve was simply insufficient to withstand the economic tsunami that has gathered momentum over the past six months, and allow it to continue as an independent business.”

Eve’s shares will be suspended from the London Stock exchange’s AIM index as a result of the administration.