Thu, 21 Oct 2010 | BUSINESS SALE
Family-owned Stokes Plc, the UK’s largest independent greengrocer, has gone into administration, with the loss of more than 100 jobs. A buyer is now being sought for the business.
Richard Hill and Joff Pope at KPMG have been appointed as joint administrators for the firm, which operates 27 stores throughout the South West and Wales and employs a total of 277 employees, 30 of whom are based at the company’s headquarters in Bristol.
The firm was originally set up as a market garden company in Keynsham just over 30 years ago and at one stage had more than 90 stores across the south west of the country.
Suffering due to the dominance of supermarkets, Stokes had already closed ten stores earlier this month, before the administrators were called in, leading to the loss of 65 jobs. Four of the stores closed were based in Wales, located in Abergavenny, Porthcawl, Bridgend and Cwmbran. The head-office was also closed, leading to 30 redundancies.
Administrator Mr Hill said, “Unfortunately, declining sales in some stores have resulted in losses being incurred.
“Despite efforts to reduce costs, these losses have resulted in significant cash flow problems and the company was unable to continue without a radical restructuring.
“The remaining 17 stores will continue to trade as normal while we seek a buyer,” added Mr Hill.
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