Potential buyers in talks over Northumberland Foods

Aug 24 2010 by Brian Daniel, The Journal

ADMINISTRATORS of a collapsed Northumberland food company say they have had a number of inquiries from possible buyers since its closure.

Northumberland Foods at Amble ceased trading on Friday, with its 250 staff being made redundant just two days after the troubled company had gone into administration.

The frozen potato producer, based at the town’s Coquet Enterprise Park, failed after advanced negotiations with a firm interested in buying it broke down at the 11th hour.

Workers had been sent home to await further news on the Wednesday, but were called in on Friday morning and given the bleak news. Some staff had not been paid for up to three weeks and were told there would be no redundancy payments from the company.

Last night, administrators Begbies Traynor confirmed it has had several inquiries since then from parties interested in taking over the company, although it was not aware how serious their expressions of interest are.

Partner with the administrator Andrew Haslam confirmed: “We have been contacted by various other interested parties and that interest will be furthered throughout this week.”

Meanwhile, Northumberland County Council has defended its decision to give the struggling company a £250,000 loan last summer, despite warnings from its head of finance that there was an unacceptable risk of the money not being repaid.