The 35-year-old Scottish business has entered liquidation after failing to refinance debts of more than £5 million.
George Lafferty of BTG was appointed provisional liquidator of Enterprise Foods Limited by Hamilton Sherif Court on 18 March, after a petition by the company.
The foodservice business, which is based at Reynolds Avenue in East Kilbride worked with a variety of Scottish suppliers, producers and farmers to sell goods to major retail and food service customers.
Enterprise Foods Limited had been experiencing ongoing cash flow difficulties which had been stacking up in recent years. This was largely a result of unpaid debts left behind by several failed customers, with its balance sheet made worse due to challenging market conditions in the retail and hospitality sectors.
“The directors had made efforts to restructure the debt of the company in order to save the business and rescue the jobs, and the loss of the jobs was sadly inevitable when this was not successful,” said Thomas McKay, managing partner of BTG in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
“There are many small suppliers to the business that are owed money, and the loss of this route to market will also have a serious knock-on effect to these food producers as well. We are working to assess all claims and establish whether there will be any dividend paid to unsecured creditors, but it is not likely to be significant, given the level of secured debts in the business.
“Regrettably, the failure of the company has resulted in 71 redundancies and we are working closely with those affected to help them access the financial entitlements and support available to them, including assistance from Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) and the Redundancy Payments Service.
“Our priorities now include ensuring these employees receive the guidance and advice they need during this process, and that we maximise the return from the sale of assets to the benefit of creditors.”
