Furniture business Raft Furniture owed creditors over £1m ahead of entering administration.
Nicholas Simmonds and Sean Bucknall, both of Quantuma Advisory Limited, were appointed as joint administrators of Raft Furniture Limited on 25 March 2026.
Detailed in newly filed documents on Companies House, the business encountered a number of challenges in the last decade that ultimately led to its collapse.
During this period, the company suffered from the close of franchises, which left the business burdened with product buy-backs, unrecoverable debts and unanticipated operational costs.
Furthermore, Brexit caused unrecoverable margin losses, the pandemic shutdowns triggered an avalanche of deferred liabilities, the global shipping crisis inflated input costs and interest rate crisis weakened the retail and housing markets.
Despite seeking to renegotiate leases, restructuring staff and cutting overheads, the weight of these historical obligations outpaced the business’s ability to recover.
In its recent trading period, the company was unable to meet its liabilities as they fell due. In particular, it was unable to pay VAT, PAYE and corporation tax, and significant arrears also accrued in respect of rent and service charges owed to its Westfield premises.
Upon entering administration, and following a review of options, the company’s business and assets were sold to Landbow Ltd, a newco that was incorporated on 15 December 2025 and is connected via shareholders, for a sum of £80,000 plus 5% of net profit for the 12 months following completion.
The report stated that £15,000 was received on completion of the pre-pack sale. The sum of £17,708 has been received to date and the remaining £62,291 will be collected as and when it falls due for payment.
With regards to creditors, preferential creditor claims from the HMRC stood at £334,000, while unsecured creditors are owed a combined sum of £1.3m. These included £821,000 owed to consumers and £204,000 owed to a connected company – Raft Limited – also in administration. It is expected that creditors will suffer a shortfall of £1.5m.
