Axe falls on 99 jobs as biscuit company goes into administration

SOME 99 redundancies have been announced at Wigan-based Rivington Biscuits Ltd whch has gone into administration as a direct result of the falling value of sterling against the euro.

Russell Cash and Ben Woolrych, partners at FRP Advisory, have been appointed as joint administrators.

They continuing to trade the business to fulfil current orders while trying to sell the business and its assets.

Cash and Woolrych say that, given the financial position of the company, they had no viable option than to announce the redundancies. The remaining 24 staff will be assisting the administrators with ongoing trading.
 
The company is best known for its business of making an array of wafer biscuits which include the popular pink wafer biscuits made for supermarket own labels and also sold under the ‘pink panther’ brand.
 
FRP said Rivington Biscuits experienced particularly challenging trading conditions over the past year, resulting in significant pressure on profit margins and cash flow.

The problems were compounded by the sharp decline in the value of the pound against the euro.
 
Cash said: “A sustained deterioration in trading conditions and significant additional pricing costs since the summer following the sharp fall in the value of the pound, left the business facing unsustainable cash-flow pressure.

“Rivington Biscuits continues to trade through administration but with a reduced staff base in order to fulfil current orders into the New Year.
 
“The joint administrators will now ensure discussions continue with key customers and suppliers whilst encouraging any parties with any interest in acquiring the business or parts of it to come forward.
 
“As administrators, given the financial situation of the company, we have had to take the difficult decision of making a large number of redundancies and our immediate priority is to assist those staff who have lost their job to make timely claims with the Redundancy Payments Service.”