Ripon firm Farmison begins hiring staff as it prepares for comeback

Ripon firm Farmison & Co has begun hiring staff as it prepares to start trading again.

Employees at the premium meat retailer were made redundant when Farmison entered administration on April 6.

But a consortium led by former Asda chief executive Andy Clarke and Chilli Marketing founder Gareth Whittle acquired the company from the administrators on Monday.

Mr Clarke, who has been appointed executive chairman, told the Stray Ferret yesterday everything was moving “very quickly” and he hoped trading would recommence in weeks rather than months.

He said the new company had so far hired five staff, who all previously worked for Farmison.

They include Michelle Kennedy, who as chief operating officer will be in charge of day-to-day operations, commercial director Andy Cavanna and finance manager Liam Duggan.

Mr Clarke said Farmison employed almost 100 people at its peak and the ambition was to get back to that number but right now he could not give a precise figure on how many roles will be created. He said:

“A recruitment drive is underway and we have started contacting some old colleagues.

“I think it was a good business that ran itself out of petrol. Basically the cost base was too high.

“Fundamentally the model was good.”

Look out for a fuller interview with Mr Clarke this weekend.

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Assets to be sold at failed Ripon firm Farmison

Administrators running collapsed Ripon firm Farmison & Co said today it planned to begin the sale of assets.

FRP took charge of the company on Thursday, when it ceased trading and most staff lost their jobs.

Farmison co-founder John Pallagi held talks over the bank holiday with a consortium led by two Yorkshire businessmen about reviving the business.

But there has been no news of a deal since and FRP has now issued a statement clarifying the situation.

The statement outlined the problems that brought down the award-winning company. It said:

“The business recently underwent a fundraising process to secure external investment to support its business plan but did not secure a sufficient level of interest.

“Following a period of significant operational investment, the business has not generated the required level of revenues to sustain its high cost base.

“In recent weeks interest in the business and assets has been explored but a transaction could not be completed, and the directors have therefore placed the company into administration.”

The statement confirmed Farmison had ceased trading, adding:

“Regrettably, the majority of its 75 roles were made redundant. A skeleton staff has been retained to support the joint administrators in fulfilling their duties as they move towards an asset sale, notably the brand, goodwill and intellectual property.”

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Arvindar Jit Singh, partner at FRP and joint administrator of Farmison, said:

“Farmison had made significant investment in recent years in its operations as it aimed to carve out a differentiated brand and offering in the online retail space.

“However, it proved too heavy a burden to sustain without the uplift in sales that it had expected.

“Without a major capital injection, the business could not continue trading and we must now commence an asset sale. We encourage any interested parties to come forward.

“In the meantime, we have a specialist team working with impacted staff to access support through the Redundancy Payments Service.”

Customers and creditors can contact the administrators by emailing farmison@frpadvisory.com.

26 jobs saved with acquisition of Ripon firm Ebor Concretes

A total of 26 jobs in Ripon have been saved by the acquisition of troubled company Ebor Concretes.

The firm, which was founded in 1942 and is based at Ure Bank Top, went into administration late last year.

But it was announced today that Nottingham firm JP Concrete Products had acquired it.

Philip Cavalier-White, director of JP Concrete Products, said:

“We are delighted to have been able to secure the future for Ebor Concretes’ factory and staff.

“We saw great value in the team of people and are excited about the future as we develop the site and staff as part of our wider business.”

Leeds-based, Armstrong Watson’s restructuring and insolvency partners Rob Adamson and Mike Kienlen assisted with the accelerated sale of the business.

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In a statement today, Armstrong Watson said it worked in conjunction with BPI Asset Advisory to find two bidders keen to proceed with the acquisition. It added that ‘everything was heading in the right direction until the end of November, when the director unexpectedly passed away’.

However, the deal has now been finalised.

Mr Adamson said:

“Our job is to help people and businesses address their challenges and find solutions. The director’s sudden passing caused a few issues, however we worked with the family who were keen to proceed with the sale.

“The strategy was simple — keep the business trading whilst we tried to complete the sale process.”

Ebor Concrete, which designs and manufactures precast concrete products for UK structural and civil engineering construction projects, previously entered administration in 2019 with the loss of 30 jobs.

JP Concrete Products has been supplying precast concrete products to the construction and agricultural markets since 2007 and has sites in Nottingham, Devon, East Sussex, Liverpool and Yorkshire.