Adelie Foods sees over 2,000 redundancies as efforts to save it fail
The food manufacturer, headquartered in Heathrow, operated from three manufacturing sites and five distribution facilities across the UK.
The joint administrators of Adelie Foods Limited, Adelie Foods Group Limited, Adelie Holdco UK Limited, Adelie Foods Bidco Limited and Brambles Foods Group Limited said they had been unable to secure a sale that would enable a rescue of the group as a going concern.
News of the administration was revealed last week as the impact of Coronavirus impacted it business.
The temporary cessation of trade implemented by the joint administrators is now permanent, resulting in 2,169 redundancies, with 22 employees being retained.
Following their appointment, the joint administrators had undertaken a very rapid assessment of the options available to them in the absence of any funding to enable ongoing trade. The previous sale process had resulted in an agreed going concern sale that it was not possible to implement, due to a key regulatory approval not being forthcoming.
Rob Harding, joint administrator at Deloitte, said: “COVID-19 has presented huge challenges to this business, given the lockdown measures and associated impact on the food-to-go sector. It is very unfortunate that we couldn’t enact the previously agreed sale and it is with sadness that we now have to announce such a significant number of redundancies.
“This is a very difficult time for the group’s employees and other key stakeholders. We will do everything we can to support them through this and would like to thank all for their continued support.”
Rob Harding and Richard Hawes were appointed as joint administrators on 26 May 2020.
Adelie sold its products to a range of retail customers and contract caterers.