Loseley Dairy Ice Cream set for liquidation
Mike Field an associate at Portland Business & Financial Solutions, which is handling the company’s affairs, told Foodmanufacture.co.uk that a total of £1.2m had been raised from the two separate sales.
He said the business would now be put into liquidation within the next month or two, and there would be an expected £2.1m shortfall in payments to creditors.
83 staff lost their jobs at Loseley's plant in Cwmbran, Wales, following the company's collapse in April. Field said that Loseley's troubles were caused by a vicious circle arising from a shortage of funds to buy raw materials, while customers eventually lost patience with the firm.
He added: “The buyers of the equipment are in situ at the plant at the moment, and I expect that the landlord of the site will want let to it out to someone else as soon as possible after they leave.”
US asset sale
Last month Portland sold the equipment at the site off via property management company Edward Symmons to American auction company Rabin for more than £750,000. Rabin is now auctioning the kit off on July 14.
That deal followed on from the sale of the brands, intellectual property of the company and the stock last month to premium ice-cream company Beechdean Farmhouse Dairy Ice cream.
Andrew Howard, md and co-founder of Beechdean told Food Manufacture.co.uk in May: “We want to reposition the Loseley brand back as a super-premium product, moving it away from the very difficult and competitive own-label sector which it had gone into in recent years.”
Loseley’s troubles came to a head after private equity backer the Foresight Group withdrew its funding. The firm had struggled to compete against larger rivals and their promotional activity. It was also hit by soaring costs for raw materials such as cream and sugar.
In the 18 months to March 31 2010, Loseley recorded a £4.7m loss on turnover of £8.7m.
