Kitchen components company Multiwood has entered administration, after it first filed a notice to appoint late last month.
Rumours have swirled since Multiwood’s directors publicly filed documents to appoint administrators on December 24. As of this morning, January 14, the company has officially entered administration, with FRP Advisory listed as the administrators.
Andrew Greenhouse, Multiwood’s national sales manager, first addressed the rumours around the company’s administration in an online social media post yesterday, January 13.
Greenhouse confirmed he had been first told of the administration on January 2, but was “not fully aware of the circumstances around this decision” as he has been on leave from the company since early December.
He said the news came “as a real surprise and shock”, as staff were told the business had been bought in 2024 and a new owner was in place. According to Greenhouse, staff were also told the new owner planned to invest in the business to ensure its future growth.
He also commented: “Off the back of this we recruited two new ASMs to the team and continued to work with independent retail showrooms in securing new accounts, listing and new showroom displays around the UK.
“We also had some new OEM business due to come on board in 2025. For the second half of 2024 we achieved both sales value and profit growth, so heading in the right direction for the first time in years.
“On my behalf and that of my team of ASMs I want to apologise for any financial losses, distress and disruption this has caused any of your business and hope that you can recover from this set back.”
Multiwood is also overdue to file its next financial accounts, which were due to be filed on December 31, 2024.
Several of Multiwood’s retail customers told kbbreview they’d heard rumours about the administration over the last week, but haven’t had any communication from the company itself. Multiwood’s phone line is also still active, but was not answered when kbbreview reached out for comment on several occasions..
Multiwood was established in 1987 by Doug Allan along with his then business partner, Eric Kershaw. Today, the company is run by Doug’s children, co-directors Ben and Caroline Allan. Multiwood offered nationwide fleet cover, based out of its 65,000 ft warehouse facility in Bury, and supplied premium doors, handles and accessories to independent kitchen retailers.
Multiwood’s rumoured administration follows the recent closure of International Decorative Surfaces (IDS) in November, which claimed to be “the UK’s largest distributor of decorative surfaces”.
