How FTI Consulting helped save jewellery brand Secrets from financial collapse
In what turned out to be an impressive rescue plan, FTI Consulting helped save Secrets International from immediate financial collapse during the crucial December holiday season, preserving a quarter-century of Australian retail legacy and safeguarding over 100 jobs.
Last year, Secrets International, an Australian luxury jewellery retailer, was facing a severe cash shortage that threatened to shut down the company right as the peak holiday shopping period began. This was the culmination of a gradual decline over the source of several years.
That is when FTI Consulting’s senior managing directors John Park, Kate Warwick and Kelly Trenfield stepped in as administrators to stabilse the business. The team immediately took operational control, managing complicated online shopping platforms, customer orders, and store inventory while searching for a buyer.
Parent company Secrets International has various subsidiaries, including Secrets Shhh, Secrets Wholesale, and Secrets Online, among others. The group trades as Secrets Shhh. After going into voluntary submission last year, Secrets International was sold to Amaar Jewels, a private jewellery group with headquarters in Dubai, and the group was rebranded to Secrets by Amaar.
The rescue plan
To keep the business running smoothly, FTI Consulting maintained steady communication with employees, suppliers, landlords, and lenders. The experts minimized losses by transferring most of the physical store leases to the new owner and ensuring hundreds of custom customer orders were fulfilled without interruption.
Meanwhile, the team launched a fast-paced global search for potential buyers, reaching out to more than 85 interested parties during the busy holiday window. That included carrying out a challenging process of due dilligence.
In just five weeks, FTI Consulting successfully completed the sale of the business as a going concern to an international buyer. The swift transition protected the brand’s 25-year history, saved more than 100 positions across the workforce, and established a stable foundation for the future of the company.
“[FTI Consulting’s] guidance helped our team navigate an incredibly challenging period with confidence, and [their] approach ensured that we could focus on what mattered while [they] managed the complexity around us,” said Adrian Murphy, CEO of National Support Office at Secrets Shhh.
Australian lab-grown jewels
Secrets Shhh was founded in the year 2000 in Queensland, Australia by Jane Meredith and Dietmar Gorlich. As a growing franchise, the company managed to set up 26 stores by 2008, by which time the global economic crisis took its toll, with Secrets reducing its footprint to only seven stores by 2017.
In addition to cubic zirconia pieces, the brand has long focused on providing lab-grown diamonds that are chemically, physically, and optically identical to the real thing. Their pieces are independently certified by accredited gemological laboratories and meet stringent standards for colour, clarity, and cut.
Lab-grown jewellery has become more popular in recent years as more and more consumers question the ethics behind real diamonds, which are often sources from conflict zones in Africa. The dramatically lower price tag is also a major perk to lab-grown diamonds, which are often indistinguishable from real diamonds.
The Australian jewellery market represents an industry worth over $4 billion, driven by steady demand for ethically sourced and fine pieces, yet mid-tier retailers frequently face tight margins and intense competition. The swift turn-around of Secrets International highlights how strategic intervention can protect established brands within this mature and rapidly evolving retail landscape.
