Allplants creditors are set to suffer a significant shortfall to the more than £13m owed when the vegan ready meals brand collapsed last year, with hopes for repayment resting with ongoing attempts by administrators to sell the business’ assets, new documents have revealed.
The majority is owed to US-headquartered TriplePoint Capital, which provided the business with venture debt finance to build out its state-of-the-art factory in East London.
Administrators at Interpath – appointed in November – expect the secured creditor to only receive a small part of the £11m owed. Employees are also owed £770k, with HMRC facing a shortfall of £262k and trade suppliers looking to recoup £826k.
Money owed to creditors is separate to the £67m of investment Allplants raised from venture capital firms and thousands of crowd investors over the years, with shareholders having no claim to any funds recouped.
The insolvency firm is currently negotiating with “various parties” for a sale of the assets, including the brand, IP and technology, as well as the production equipment and the new 43,000 sq ft factory with built-in freezers and commercial kitchen equipment. A deadline for best and final offer is set for 20 January.
Interpath’s report revealed the 43,000 sq ft factory in Walthamstow was 90% complete and capable of supporting a business of £100m in revenues. However, as sales at Allplants declined in recent years, and with the company unable to service the debt, the build was not finished.
Allplants registered a further £2.3m of operating losses in the 10 months to 31 October 2024, with revenues falling to just £2.7m, the report showed. It means losses at the challenger brand totalled almost £38m since brothers Jonathan and Alex Petrides started the business in 2016.
Allplants, which launched with a mission to promote healthy plant-based meals in a sustainable way, found itself in trouble after trading peaked during the pandemic. Operating costs soared across labour, energy and ingredients, with the business hamstrung by an intensive capex model and the significant investment needed to scale up the production facility.
At its peak, the business employed about 175 staff and turned over more than £9m.
A downturn in the vegan category piled pressure on the company as it attempted to cut costs and mitigate losses.
After attempts to secure an additional £3.5m equity injection in the summer of 2024 failed, the company ran an accelerated M&A process, which also proved unsuccessful.
Eventually, Interpath was appointed as administrator in late November, with 65 staff made redundant.
On top of the asset sell-off, Interpath is trying to negotiate a bulk sale of the retail and DTC stock being held at Allplants’ third-party logistics partner, totalling more than 100,000 meals.
Ocado, which listed Allplants, has offered more than £41k for the majority of the retail stock, according to the report.
There is also net cash of almost £300k in the Allplants bank account and book debts of £63k to be collected.
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