Bakery chain collapses as CVA fails

BAKERY chain Cooplands has entered administration putting hundreds of jobs at risk.

Alison’s Coffee Shop, trading as Cooplands Bakeries, is based in Doncaster.

Administrators at Opus Restructuring were called in yesterday (8 November) putting around 200 jobs at risk, just months after two bakeries in Lincolnshire were closed without notice.

The business agreed a company voluntary agreement in April when they owed £475,000. Creditors, which included HMRC, Sheffield City Council and Scottish Power, allowed the company to continue to trade after agreeing to the deal on 8 April 2016. 79% of creditors voted for the CVA.

In the deal, Cooplands agreed to pay nothing to creditors for the first three months of the CVA, following which it would pay £8,504 a month for the remainder of the three years agreed.

This is not the first time Cooplands has hit the rocks. In February 2015 it entered administration leading to the closure of 39 stores and its head office and production facilities in Doncaster. This led to the loss of 300 jobs, with 259 remaining.

Restructuring specialist Resolve acquired the stores from the business after losses became unsustainable, as high manufacturing costs combined with declining sales.

Opus are due to give an update on Cooplands this morning.