BrandAlley bought in pre-pack administration deal

Online flash sales retailer BrandAlley has been acquired out of administration in a pre-pack deal with its new owner being BrandAlley International Ltd, an “unconnected company”.

Few details are available at present and it’s not yet clear who’s involved in the new parent firm. 

The company had 163 staff prior to its administration with 15 having been made redundant and another 60 likely to lose their jobs once the handover to the new owner completes.

The company said on its website that it’s “an exciting new chapter for our business. Following a sale of the business, the BrandAlley website, brand and ongoing operations have transferred to a new owner. This secures BrandAlley’s future and means it’s business as usual for you, our customers.”

Existing orders will be fulfilled as normal and returns and refunds will continue to be honoured.

The members-only site was founded in 2008 and grew fast via its flash sales model. It’s average order values add up to more than £100 from the dozens of flash sales it runs every day in links with more than 1,000 brand partners.

It was only last month that we reported BrandAlley looking at a possible sale of the business with advisers from Interpath working on strategic options with it.

The issue with distressed businesses that are for sale is that potential bidders often prefer to wait until they’ve gone into administration as that allows a much more straightforward cherry-picking of its operations. That’s something frequently seen with physical store-based retailers in particular as it means new owners can more easily shutter unprofitable shops.

That’s not the case here as BrandAlley is online-only. But when news of it being up for sale emerged it was reported that it had earlier been considering a debt raise so there were clearly probkejns to be addressed, the later administration filing underlining that.

Its most recent accounts were filed last October but only cover 2024. In that year, dipped slightly to £141 million while operating and net profit both rose.