The administrators of the UK’s largest vegetable processing business have instructed CAPA to carry out audits on the company’s vast sites – after it became the most recent firm to succumb to the effects of high inflation.
Interpath Advisory, the corporate restructuring and business rescue experts, appointed CAPA after managing the administration of Yorkshire-based Troy Foods and securing a sale of parts of the business – a move that saved 104 jobs in the run up to Christmas.
Having traded for more than 20 years, Troy Foods had employed nearly 200 staff who worked in large leasehold sites in Leeds and Yorkshire, preparing groceries for distribution around the UK.
The company was recently posting annual turnover of around £19mn but it had also struggled with raw material cost inflation – costs which it had to pass onto customers.
This trading situation led to losses during the past two years, as well as a deteriorating capital position and pressures on payment terms from suppliers.
Given this increasing pressure and the limited prospect of a solvent solution for the business, the directors took steps to place the business into administration, after concluding that insolvency was unavoidable.
Neil Morley and Howard Smith of Interpath Advisory were then appointed as administrators on November 30 and upon their appointment, sold certain assets of the company to a new owner.
The administrators have now instructed CAPA, meaning CAPA’s Audit team will be drafted in to conduct forensic audits of payments to local authorities across every site Troy operated from.
The team will look to identify any anomalies or errors before recovering any overspend, boosting the overall returns for creditors.
