Crawshaw has fallen into administration today, endangering the future of 42 high street stores and 600 jobs.
The meat retail chain, which has been trading in the UK since 1954, is due to appoint administrators who will subsequently try to find a buyer for the struggling business and its assets.
This comes after the butcher retailer failed to raise emergency funding needed to continue trading, after announcing earlier this month it was seeking to raise cash to return it to profitability.
Its board has now been forced to enter administration, stating that it did not have the cash available to carry out a restructure.
For the half-year to July 29, the company’s most recently published set of results, Crawshaw reported a £1.7 million pre-tax loss on revenues of £21.6 million.
Its shares were suspended this morning as it attempted to stem any further devaluation of share prices, having already dropped 82 per cent in the year to date.
Six hundred jobs across 42 stores and 12 factory outlets have now been plunged into danger.
“As previously announced on 26 October 2018, the board was considering a number of remedial actions including raising additional funding through an equity capital raising in order to address the key issues it had identified with the company,” Crawshaw said in a stock market statement.
“Since then, the board has been in discussions with existing investors and prospective investors.
“Unfortunately these discussions have not been successful in raising sufficient capital to address those key issues.
“The company does not have sufficient cash resources to effect the required restructuring of the business.”
According to the company’s new management, including new chief executive Jim Viggars who was appointed in May to deliver a turnaround, the company had been stretched too thin after expanding too quickly, and been hit hard by rising business rates bills and declining consumer confidence.
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