Typhoo Tea has fallen into administration after 121 years.
The vapes and batteries maker Supreme has stated it’s in talks over a possible rescue deal to snap up Typhoo, which filed a discover to nominate directors on Wednesday, in accordance with official filings.
The collapse follows a number of years of declining gross sales, mounting money owed and even a break-in at its Wirral manufacturing facility final yr.
Insolvency specialists at Kroll have been appointed to supervise the administration course of and are hoping to strike a rescue deal for the enterprise, which it’s understood has fewer than 100 staff.
Supreme – a London-listed vaping merchandise and drinks producer – advised shareholders on Thursday that rescue talks had been at “a complicated stage” however it’s not sure an acquisition deal can be accomplished.
The transfer can be a part of efforts by Supreme to develop its drinks and diet operations, because it reduces its concentrate on vaping earlier than a authorities clampdown on disposable vapes due subsequent yr.
A spokesperson for Kroll stated: “As reported just lately, the corporate has skilled vital cashflow constraints on account of provide chain disruptions and subsequent service points.
“The corporate has been exploring a sale of the enterprise and belongings which is within the strategy of concluding.
“The administration course of gives Typhoo Tea with safety, permitting the joint directors to finalise the sale to be able to rescue the enterprise.”
Typhoo’s newest firm filings confirmed that it made a £38m loss final yr, whereas gross sales fell by 1 / 4 to £25.3m.
In August 2023, Typhoo suffered a blow when trespassers broke into the corporate’s former manufacturing facility in Merseyside and occupied the location for a number of days. Typhoo stated on the time that they precipitated “in depth injury” and made the location “inaccessible”.
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The corporate had been attempting to promote the manufacturing facility, in a deal that finally went by means of in June 2024.
Typhoo stated the incident made up the majority of £24m of remarkable prices that yr, and that it had “materially” affected its day-to-day working.
Based in 1903, Typhoo has lengthy been one among Britain’s best-known tea manufacturers, however the decline in recent times has pushed it to the brink of going out of enterprise.
Since 2021, the non-public fairness agency Zetland Capital has been its majority shareholder