Administrator confident of selling Baked Snacks Co as going concern

BSC, which made baked snacks for customers including Marks & Spencer and Aldi, went into administration in late July following months of cash flow problems and has been closed for some weeks.

However, Gary Hargreaves at administrator MCR told FoodManufacture.co.uk he remained confident of selling the business as a going concern "in the very near future. ​​There has been a lot of interest in the business from various parties."​

He declined to comment on reports from the GMB trade union that BSC boss Mobeen Mehdi was trying to put together a consortium to buy the firm, but added: "​​If Mobeen ​wants to put an offer in, then we'll obviously consider it."​

Starting again under a new name?​

One source close to the company said Mehdi was "talking about starting again under a new name."​​

It had been a very rocky year for staff at the troubled firm, he said. ​​

"Several staff ​filed tribunals against the company claiming for unlawful deduction, breach of contract and constructive dismissal and about 30 refused to go into work earlier this year because they weren't getting paid. ​

"But there isn't much work in this area, so if jobs become available at the site again, a job is a job."​

Loss-making​

BSC was sold by confectionery firm Zetar in April 2009 to Tilbury Property Limited, a company controlled by Mehdi.

When Zetar acquired BSC in 2007, it said it had made a loss before tax of £0.4m on sales of £4.5m in the year to July 31, 2006.

In the year to April 30, 2008, BSC posted sales of around £2m and an adjusted operating loss of £0.9m.