A FASHION retailer with branches in Dorset has gone into administration.

M&Co appointed administrators on Friday, December 9 amid rising costs and weakening consumer confidence.

The business is still trading and there has been no word on branch closures while administrators look for a buyer. 

​The men and women’s fashion chain has Dorset branches in East Street, Blandford; High Street, Shaftesbury; East Street, Bridport; and Christchurch High Street.

Branches in Dorchester and Wimborne closed at the end of November.

A statement on the M&Co website said: “Adele MacLeod, Gavin George Scott Park and Robert James Harding of Teneo Financial Advisory Limited were appointed Joint Administrators of M&Co Trading Limited (“the Company”) on 9 December 2022.

“The affairs, business and property of the Company are managed by the Joint Administrators. The Joint Administrators act as agents of the Company and contract without personal liability.

Teneo Financial Advisory said M&Co, headquartered in Scotland, is one of the UK’s largest privately-owned fashion and lifestyle retailers, with 170 stores across the UK and an e-commerce platform, employing 1,910 staff.

Gavin Park, joint administrator, said: “Like many retailers, the company has experienced a sharp rise in its input costs, which has coincided with a decline in consumer confidence leading to trading challenges. Despite a very loyal customer base, particularly in local markets, and a well-recognised brand, the current economic outlook has placed increasing pressure on the company’s cash position.

"No immediate redundancies have been made and the joint administrators are now exploring a potential sale of the business in an accelerated timeframe, during which time the company will continue to trade from its stores and website."

M&Co has been in administration once before, in 2020, when 47 stores and 381 jobs were lost while the business was restructured and taken over by a new trading company.