Scottish bakery Mathiesons has been sold to Prestige Bakeries in a pre-pack deal, which has seen more than 240 jobs saved.
Retail and wholesale business Mathiesons Foods was placed into administration on Friday 25 May, with KPMG appointed as administrators.
A pre-pack deal was immediately completed by joint administrators Blair Nimmo and Tony Friar of KPMG, but 20 shops have been closed with the loss of 84 jobs. The sale to Prestige included part of the business, and certain trading assets, including eight of Mathiesons’ 28 retail outlets.
Nimmo said: “The early sale of the business is a positive outcome from what has been a difficult period for the company and its staff. The business was in a severe degree of distress, but the deal represents the best outcome for the company’s creditors.”
The original Mathiesons brand was established in 1872, while the Lambert-based Mathiesons Foods was formed in 2010, after Mathiesons Bakeries went into administration. The deal saw Mathiesons merge with two other bakery businesses: James Allan Bakers and Murdoch Allan Bakers.
The administrators said the firm had undergone significant change in the past two years as management sought to restructure the business and return it to profitability. However, difficult trading conditions, particularly on the retail side, meant the company incurred losses and experienced cash flow problems, and further funding could not be secured.
The joint administrators have also been appointed to Mathiesons’ five subsidiaries – Firbank Holdings, Firbank Bakery, East End Bakery, James Allan (Bakers), and J Allan (Bakers). However these companies are either dormant or hold leasehold interests only.
In January this year, the firm featured at number 31 in British Baker’s BB75 table, with 36 shops, down from 44 the year before.
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