South East-based food and drink catering wholesaler Nila has ceased trading with the initial loss of 29 jobs.
The £17m-sales wholesaler, based in Southall near Heathrow, was established in 1994. After making a profit for four successive years, it moved to a new location in 2015, and made a pre-tax loss of £841k in the period 1 August 2015 to 30 November 2016 despite growing sales by more than 30% to £17.2m.
The accounts - published in November 2017 - showed net liabilities had risen from £406k to £1.2m, but stated that since this period “trading has stabilised” and management were “confident the company will return to profitability”.
However, it was forced to call in administrators Geoffrey Bouchier and Benjamin Wiles from Duff & Phelps on 17 April this year. While attempts were made to find a buyer, no rescue package was possible and it has now ceased trading.
Nila had 61 staff according to its 2016 accounts. The administrator said “29 have been made redundant, primarily procurement, customer relationship and distribution staff.”
The collapse is the latest in a spate of grocery wholesaler administrations, following the failure of P&H in late 2017 and the rescue of Matthew Clark Bibendum by C&C Group and Bestway’s acquisition of Bargain Booze, Wine Rack and the other Conviviality retail assets from the wreckage of Conviviality plc earlier this month.
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