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Corks pop as winery is out of administration
Broadland Wineries today began a new chapter after a 10 month period of administration came to an end.
A rescue plan with creditors has secured the jobs of 62 staff at the CAwston company, which is one of the UK’s leading independent contract bottler and producer of British wines and fruit wines.
Broadland Wineries was placed into the hands of Norwich based administrators McTear Williams & Wood last March after running up debts of more than £6m.
McTear Williams & Wood devised a rescue plan for the company, which will see creditors get half their money back, enable the business to continue trading and has seen the appointment of a new chief executive.
During the administration, McTear Williams & Wood carried on operating the business, even allowing more than £100,000 to be invested in the production lines, which has enable the company to remain competitive and allow it to plan for future expansion.
Production has now increased from pre-administration levels and since March Broadland has bottled more than 17 million litres of wine with sales of more than £6m.
Joint administrator Chris Williams said “The company has suffered identifiable losses, which we felt could be eradicated. The staff were committee and it was clear that there was under-capacity in the bottle industry. We felt these facts were a recipe to save the company. While there were offers to purchase the business, in our opinion these did not put sufficient value on the company and it deserved better.”
Mr Williams admitted the administration had not been without its difficulties. The company’s major creditor was HM Customs & Excise for outstanding wine duty and to continue trading needed the backing of personal guarantees from the administrators.
The same bonding and vetting requirements applied to prospective purchasers of the business and assets, making a sale of the company difficult.
Joint Administrator Andrew McTear said “When we arrived on the scene in March we found a substantial business with a bottling plant able to fill 25 millions bottles of wine per annum and over four million bottles stored in warehouses across Norfolk which had totally run out of cash. Having stabilised the business, we identified potential savings which would move the company from losses to profits and then set about our rescue plan. It has taken a long time to execute, but is glad to see such a positive outcome from such a long period of administration.”
Mark Lansley has taken over as chief executive of Broadland Wineries after being introduced to the business through McTear Williams & Wood’s Turnaround Interim Managers Network (T-IM).
T-IM provides interim managers to facilitate changes at companies facing difficulties.
Mr Lansley said “It is so exciting at the winery right now. Staff are coming up with all sorts of ideas for growing our sales and profits such as increasing the number of wine tasting events we organise, taking our sales reps, leveraging our export contacts. We have also been fortunate to receive tremendous support from our customers, suppliers, the administrators and the local community.”