Wedding supplies firm Confetti goes into administration

A leading retail and online wedding and celebrations supplies business has gone into administration, it emerged today.

Manchester based Confetti, founded in 1999, has lost 48 of its 94 staff and closed its five high street shops in Glasgow, Leeds, Birmingham, Reading and London.

At the beginning of the decade the business grew to include a mail order division and launched the website http://www.confetti.co.uk providing a large range of weddings and party supplies.

The company had a turnover of £5.7m and its website receives nearly eight million hits a month.

It won the 'Best Wedding Website' category in the BT Online Excellence Awards.

Today, the administrators, RSM Tenon, announced an urgent search for a buyer and set 5pm on Monday August 23 as the early closing date for offers.

The administrators said they had moved quickly to close the five stores to focus on the established online business.

Joint administrator Kenny Craig, Director with RSM Tenon in Glasgow, said: "Confetti is a very high profile market leading online brand and enjoys a large customer base.

"The business has great potential for further development and the administration presents an outstanding opportunity for a retail business or entrepreneur to acquire an immediate presence in the wedding and celebrations market.

"We would urge interested parties to make contact in the next day or two to ensure they have a chance to bid for the business."

Forty-six jobs are being retained to support the online business and provide administrative services.

Interested parties should contact the Recovery Team within the Edinburgh office of RSM Tenon on 0131 221 8820.