Vertical Farming business Vertical Future collapsed owing £7.9m to unsecured creditors, the administrators report has found.
The company went into administration on 12 August, appointing Richard Cole and Steve Kenny of KBL Advisory to oversee it.
Unsecured creditors were owed £7.9m, with the majority of the total made up from £3.2m from Berkely VF Ltd and £3.3m to Mundhi Ltd.
The company has recieved a claim from a customer for an alleged breach of contract and failure to perform contractual obligations, with an estimated claim value of apporximately £2.5m, the report found.
The report added that there are no secured creditors, but it is anticipated that “asset realisations will be sufficient to declare a dividend to preferential and secondary preferential creditors during the administration”.
The company’s 37 employees who were made redundant on 5 August 2025 have preferential status and their claims in relation to wages and holiday pay are estimated at £97.6k. It is estimated that preferential creditors will be paid in full.
The business also owed £76k to HMRC, which is also expected to be paid in full.
Key assets owned by the company were sold on 10 September, making up £1.5m in cash and machinery, which has enabled a “better result for creditors”.
The business had also secured grant funding from the government as part of Innovate UK. It was due to receive another £25,400, but the administrators have said it “is not anticipated that any recoveries will be available”.
In its latest accounts to the year 31 March 2024, the business’s operating loss was at £10.2m, almost double that of the year before. Its turnover was also only £691k, down from £6.7m the year before.
It is the latest vertical farming business to have gone bust this year, following Jones Food Company in April and US-based Farm Plenty in March.
The administration is expected to be concluded within 24 months.
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