Listed butcher Crawshaw Group to enter administration

Crawshaw Group, the Rotherham-based butcher, is being placed into administration after failing to secure funds to support a turnaround plan.

As previously announced on 26 October, the board was considering a number of remedial actions including raising additional funding through an equity capital raising in order to to address the key issues identified with the company.

The board, however, has not been successful in raising sufficient capital to address the company’s key issues.

Crawshaw announced that it does not have sufficient cash resources to carry out the required restructuring of the business.

As a result, in order to protect both shareholders and creditors, the company has been placed into administration and will appoint administrators with the purpose of seeking buyers for the its business and assets on a going concern basis.

Crawshaw previously reported a ‘disappointing’ first half to the year.

For the period ending 29 July, the listed business saw a 1.9% drop in group revenue down to £21.6m, compared to the £22.1m achieved at the same time in 2017. The company also reported a pre-tax loss of £1.7m (2017: loss of £1.2m), and half year like-for-like sales were -13.2% (2017: -4.2%).

At the time Jim Viggars, Crawshaw CEO, said: “Clearly the results for H1 are disappointing, but not entirely a surprise given market conditions and the issues that face a retail estate that has too many high street stores and currently not enough factory stores.”