Creditors of online retailer set to miss out on £6m owed to them

Creditors at Chesterfield-based online retailer Xbite were owed almost £6.4m when the company was plunged into administration last month, it has emerged.

Of this, documents seen by TheBusinessDesk.com show that unsecured creditors are unlikely to see the £6m owed to them when the firm was sold out of administration in a deal worth just £275,000.

Chesterfield-based XBite traded through websites including 365Games, Roov, Maison and White, Pukkr and Shop4World, and like many online businesses saw its turnover increase during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company employed 87 people and turned over £51.7m in FY21, but mounting cashflow pressures and supply chain issues associated with importing from China saw it run into trouble.

XB’s directors explored options for additional investment, including a potential sale of the business, but James Lumb and Howard Smith from Interpath Advisory were appointed joint administrators on 15 July after it became apparent that a solvent sale was unachievable.

The company in administration was renamed to XB Realisations enabling the new company to take on the Xbite name.

The administrators have now completed the sale of the business and certain assets to an unconnected purchaser, with all employees keeping their jobs.