M&Co administration collapse closed 168 stores and cost 1,800 jobs, with more than £46 million owed as Teneo’s latest reports laid out the scale of the failure. For workers and suppliers, the damage now sits in the numbers: a full store shutdown, a creditor shortfall and a case that has already moved on to dissolution.
Adele Macleod and 608 claims
Adele Macleod was one of three joint administrators appointed by Teneo, alongside Gavin Park and Robert Harding, to handle the collapse and creditor claims. The administrators wrote: "We adjudicated all claims received and subsequently admitted 608 claims for a total of £34m for dividend purposes, compared with £41m in the directors' statement of affairs." That gap shows how the reported liabilities narrowed once claims were tested, but it still left a large hole for unsecured creditors.
£800,000 was the maximum prescribed part fund distributed on March 9, 2026, and Teneo said that payment produced a dividend rate of 2.32p in the pound for non-preferential unsecured creditors. The administrators also said: "Insufficient funds were realised to enable a dividend to be paid to non-preferential unsecured creditors, other than via the prescribed part distribution referred to above."
AK Retail Holdings and £2.5 million
£2.5 million was the price AK Retail Holdings paid for the brand, including M&Co's online offering, after the company again fell into administration in 2022. The result is a stark mismatch: the brand changed hands for a modest sum, yet more than 600 unsecured creditors still face losses of more than £33 million.
47 stores and 380 jobs were lost when M&Co first fell into administration during the pandemic, before the later collapse wiped out the remaining estate. The administrators said: "Following the transaction which took place during the pandemic, and in common with other retailers, the company has suffered as a result of a drawn-out recovery in retail sales in the post pandemic period." They also said: "In the months prior to administration, the deterioration in trading performance has been compounded by high inflation increasing the company's cost base, and a cost-of-living crisis impacting consumer behaviour."
June dissolution closes the case
June brought the move from administration to dissolution, which ends the company’s formal life rather than leaving it in day-to-day rescue mode. Teneo also said: "No further distributions have been made to the pension scheme following Holdings' payment of the outstanding pension scheme debt in August 2024 and its security has been satisfied. Holdings has not been repaid in full in respect of its floating charge security during the administration."
For unsecured creditors, the only cash already identified is the prescribed part distribution. How much, if anything, they ultimately recover beyond that remains the live financial question left by the collapse.
