Somerset-based firm Longpre Furniture Ltd, which makes furniture to individual specification, has been sold out of administration, safeguarding the jobs of 50 employees.
The business was placed into administration after being hit by financial losses on contracts, combined with increased prices for raw materials and utility costs.
Joint administrators Neil Vinnicombe and Paul Wood, from business recovery expert Begbies Traynor’s Bath office, oversaw the sale of the business out of administration.
The company, which was established in 1990 by master cabinetmaker Paul Longpre and designer Helen Moyers, is based in the town of Bruton, and employs a team of skilled craftsmen, making handcrafted furniture for clients across an international portfolio, designing and crafting free-standing and fitted furniture for residential and commercial addresses around the world.
The sale of the firm and its assets on 1st March to Longpre Ltd means all 50 staff will remain with the business.
Neil Vinnicombe says: “The financial situation Longpre Furniture Ltd faced has made it a very challenging time for the business, so we are delighted to be able to secure the future of these jobs.
“The losses had a significant adverse effect on cashflow, and this, coupled with general economic and market uncertainty, resulted in a lack of confidence that trading forecasts could be achieved, so the sale of the business injects a new confidence now we have found a way forward.”
