Caterway head office in Nottinghamshire

Wholesaler Caterway has ceased trading after attempts to secure the external investment it needed to survive failed.

The collapse of the 30-year-old company came following a sharp deterioration in trading, according to administrators at FRP Advisory.

Chris Stirland and Nathan Jones, partner and director at the restructuring and advisory firm, were appointed as joint administrators to Caterway Ltd on 20 March.

Caterway traded as a wholesaler, primarily in the fish and chip market, supplying more than 600 customers in the restaurant, hotel, butchers and fast food industries. The business, which was a member of the Landmark Wholesale buying group, operated from offices in Sutton in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, and also had depots in Leeds and in Alicante and Malaga in Spain.

All 22 employees have been made redundant as a result of the administration and an asset realisation process is underway.

“It is deeply regrettable that a company with over 30 years of trading and a large regional and international customer footprint has had to shut up shop,” FRP partner Chris Stirland said.

“Caterway had come under increased financial pressure in recent years and worked hard to find a viable solution for the business. Attempts to seek investment and buyers for the business failed to materialise leaving the directors with no choice but to seek the protection of administration.

“Given the impact of the administration, and the reduction in cashflow after a short period of trading, the joint administrators were forced to lay off all 22 staff.”

He added his immediate focus would be to assist former staff with the support to submit claims to the Redundancy Payments Service.

FRP will also continue to market the assets of the businesses in an attempt to bring in the cash to pay off creditors of the business.