Miniso Australia facing winding up order after collapsing twice in five years

The Australian former master franchisee for multinational discount retailer Miniso will face a winding up hearing in the Supreme Court of New South Wales on Thursday, less than 12 months after the business was placed in voluntary administration for the second time.

According to a notice published by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), a total of 19 related corporate entities are subject to a winding up application.

This includes Miniso Master Franchisee Pty Ltd, which was previously the main revenue generating entity associated with Miniso’s business in Australia.

Several other headline entities are also subject to the winding up application, including Miniso Life Australia Pty Ltd and Miniso Holdings Pty Limited, along with 14 businesses that represented individual stores, mostly located in Victoria, NSW and Queensland.

The action was commenced on Monday by Andrew Spring and Peter Moore of Jirsch Sutherland, in their capacity as joint and several deed administrators of the 2nd to 20th plaintiffs.

Along with their colleague Melissa Lau, Spring and Moore were appointed as administrators of these parts of the Miniso Australia business in May 2024.

It was the second time that parts of the Australian Miniso business have called in external managers, after the master franchisee and nine company-owned stores fell into voluntary administration in July 2020.

In 2020, the financial turmoil at the business was attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and restrained consumer spending. In 2024, the administrators said the business was affected by market forces, including labour costs, supply chains issues and inflationary pressures.

Last year’s administration included 15 company-owned Miniso stores. Another 18 outlets operated by franchises were not included in the administration but were affected by the situation as they sourced stock from the master franchisee.

Administrator Andrew Spring confirmed to SmartCompany on Wednesday that the companies subject to the current court application are no longer trading any Miniso stores.

Spring confirmed the stores that were operated by these companies were either sold as part of the Deed of Company Arrangement (DOCA) overseen by the administrators, or had already ceased trading.

SmartCompany understands the DOCA for each of the companies included in the winding-up application required the companies to complete a number of conditions within a specified timeframe.

However, those conditions were not met by the deadline, which prompted the winding up application.

Miniso in Australia

Miniso landed in Australia in 2017 with an aggressive expansion plan to open 300 retail locations across the country in the space of a few years.

The variety retailer is headquartered in Guangzhou, China, and has a reputation for ‘stack it high, watch it fly’ trading.

Miniso Group Holding Limited, representing the brand globally, in March revealed unaudited revenue of US$2.3 billion for the year to December 31, 2024.

The business counted 4,386 stores in mainland China.

Miniso has locations in 112 global markets, covering much of North America, Europe, the Middle East, northern Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, and Latin America.

It counted 3,118 stores across its international markets in 2024, rising by net 430 global stores over the calendar year.

According to previous reports, the master franchisee in Australia operated under a brand license from a Hong Kong-based company called Tabata Holdings.

Two years after arriving in Australia and opening 32 retail stores, Miniso Australia adjusted its strategy to instead open 100 stores by the end of 2020.

These plans were seemingly upended by the pandemic, which saw a “small number” of Miniso stores close and the retailer’s entire operations hit hard by the sharp decline in foot traffic.

Miniso’s Australian website was inaccessible and showed a 404 error message on Wednesday morning.

The brand has not posted to its Facebook account since May 2024, but has more recent posts on Instagram, sharing several posts about its Parramatta store over the past month.

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