Matches CEO and CFO reportedly step down following administration

The chief executive officer, Nick Beighton, and chief financial officer, Dave Murray, of Matches are believed to have exited the company days after it fell into administration.

Both Beighton and Murray are understood to have been among the 273 job cuts made after the redundancy filing was put into place, according to Drapers.

Last week, administrators from Teneo Financial Advisory were appointed to oversee the process three months on from when Matches had been acquired by Frasers Group in a 52 million pound deal.

Media reports suggested that Frasers was now actively seeking a buyer for the troubled e-tailer, with British chain Next understood to be among the interested parties.

Beighton’s exit from Matches, however, comes just over a year and a half on from his initial appointment, when he took on the helm role after resigning from Asos after 12 years, during which time he had been overseeing a turnaround plan.

Murray, meanwhile, had first joined Matches in September 2022, taking on the CFO position from Farfetch where he served as senior vice president of finance.

According to Drapers, the management team of the luxury retailer had requested for the business to be integrated into Frasers’ platform. However, this was declined by the fashion retail conglomerate.

In a statement to the media outlet, Frasers said that Matches "has consistently missed its business plan targets and, notwithstanding support from the group, has continued to make material losses".

It continued: "While Matches' management team has tried to try to find a way to stabilise the business, it has become clear that too much change would be required to restructure it, and the continued funding requirements would be far in excess of amounts that the group considers to be viable.”