Creditors look set to lose a significant chunk of the £14.1m they are owed from the administration of Ashbury Chocolates, documents have revealed.
Private equity firm Credo is facing a significant shortfall after pumping £6.3m into the Midlands chocolate manufacturer in attempts to keep it afloat.
The report filed by administrators at BDO also showed unsecured creditors totalled £7.8m, with trade suppliers making up £4m - including £900,000 to food giant Cargill - and HMRC another £1.6m. It was likely there would be some cash to make a small distribution, the administrators said.
Belgian chocolate producer Baronie Group saved the jobs of 236 employees when it bought Ashbury in February. The owner of the Duc d’O brand paid £1.4m for the business and its assets, not including the book debts, which Credo is collecting.
Ashbury’s problems stemmed back to 2011 when defects on a contract for a key customer restricted cashflow, leading to losses that by 2014 had widened to £1.8m on sales of £26m. Credo continued to inject cash - totalling £3.5m - to support the business.
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