Kitchen supplier appoints joint administrators as 160 jobs are lost

ONE HUNDRED and sixty staff have been made redundant after a Yorkshire-based kitchen supplier went into administration.

Gareth Harris and Keith Marshall of RSM Restructuring Advisory were appointed joint administrators of Alno (United Kingdom) Limited, which also traded via the Intoto franchise network.

The Leeds-based company supplied kitchens, manufactured in Germany, to retail and commercial customers. It had 171 permanent employees and two UK directors. The company’s overseas parent entered a German self-administration insolvency process in July, but despite raising “substantial funds” to attempt a restructure, the parent company entered into a formal insolvency administration process.

RSM said: “The UK company was not part of that process and has attempted to work with its shareholder to ensure continuity of service to its UK customers and franchisees. However, this has proved challenging due to limited supply to the UK company and additional concerns over the ability of the German parent to supply UK customers in the long term.

“The directors filed a notice of intention (NOI) to appoint administrators on Friday September 8 and sought interested parties for a sale of the business. However, subsequent to the NOI being filed and delayed payment of outstanding invoices, the directors were unable to continue any trading. In order to protect the position of creditors, the UK directors have appointed joint administrators. Unfortunately, 160 employees were immediately made redundant.”

The administrators are assessing offers for the business and assets.