Decision awaited on funds of New Rathbones

Joint administrator Richard Hill of KPMG told British Baker he is nearing a conclusion on how to divide the funds. These include money from the sales of seven bakeries to Rathbone Kear and Harvestime (2005) – a total of £16.09million – as well as money generated from an insurance claim at the former Carlisle bakery, which burned down.

This claim, which was for £4.8m (British Baker, July 8, pg 5) has now been settled, Mr Hill reported. However he declined to specify the amount paid out by insurers. “People have got confused,” he said. “The Carlisle creditors think this money should go to them, but in fact it goes into the central pot of the whole New Rathbones group.”

New Rathbones’ Carlisle bakery burned down a year ago, on February 19, 2005. The fire, blamed on an electrical fault, was cited as one of the contributing factors in the collapse of New Rathbones.

The Carlisle property on the Durranhill Industrial Estate was occupied by New Rathbones under a long lease, and reverted to landlord Carlisle City Council at the end of 2005, Mr Hill said.

Cumbria police is to submit an application for outline planning consent for a new area headquarters at the estate and Carlisle City Council has a number of other enquiries about the land.

According to an administrators’ report, leaked to British Baker in July 2005, New Rathbones was at least £36m in debt when it went into administration.

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