Sandwich manufacturer Adelie Foods has appointed administrators Deloitte following the impact of Covid-19 on its business.
Due to the consumer-focused nature of the business, Deloitte said coronavirus and the associated lockdown measures had had a “significant adverse effect” on Adelie Foods, which supplies food-to-go products to a range of retail customers and contract caterers. It is headquartered in Heathrow and operates three manufacturing sites and five distribution facilities across the UK.
Adelie had been part way through a sale process before entering administration, but it had not been possible to conclude this outside of administration protection, Deloitte added.
Joint administrators Rob Harding and Richard Hawes, restructuring partners at Deloitte, will now investigate sale options and aim to conclude these as soon as possible.
At the time of the administrators’ appointment, Adelie Foods employed around 2,200 people. Deloitte said that while no immediate redundancies were being made, this position would be revisited subject to how the sale process progressed over the coming days.
“The current pandemic is having a devastating effect on consumer-facing businesses and suppliers into them, such as Adelie. The impact of Covid-19 on the company’s order book resulted in a material funding requirement and, as a result, we have been working hard with Adelie’s management to try and secure a buyer to ensure the right longer-term future for the business,” said Harding.
He added that the company had been hopeful that a sale agreed with a trade buyer would obtain the necessary regulatory approvals to enable it to proceed to completion, but this had not been possible. As such, it was to “very quickly” explore the options available.
“As administrators, we appreciate the help from employees and management, and we will do all we can to support them at what is clearly a difficult time.”
Financial results for the 12 months to 30 September 2018 showed that turnover at Adelie Foods had risen almost £23m, but the firm made a £54.9m loss before tax.
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