Specialist restructuring and advisory firm FRP Advisory has confirmed that its partners Geoff Rowley and Jason Baker have been appointed joint administrators to Corndell Furniture Company Ltd, a manufacturer, importer and distributer of furniture headquartered in Witney, Oxfordshire.
Corndell is one of the UK’s largest independent furniture designers and manufacturers, and has been trading for nearly 40 years. The company’s furniture is available to purchase from over 700 outlets in the UK and Ireland. Its wide-ranging customer base includes a number of major high street retailers, as well as over 120 independent furniture retailers located throughout the UK.
The company has a strong order book and will continue to trade as normal while the joint administrators manage it as a going concern in the interests of creditors and customers, as well as conducting a sales process of the business to secure its long term future.
According to FRP Advisory, the business had been facing financial pressure for a prolonged period, and had ultimately reached a position where it had exhausted both its working capital facilities and credit lines with key suppliers. This led the board of directors to place the company into administration.
At the point of administration, the company employed 112 staff, of which 74 have been retained in order to proceed with meeting customer demands, whilst 38 staff have been made redundant.
Geoff Rowley, joint administrator and partner at FRP Advisory, says: “We are focused on working with the company’s customers and suppliers as well as engaging with interested parties. Corndell has faced financial difficulty for a number of years and recent cash flow issues have finally prompted the need to seek the protection of administration. However, the business has a strong order book and it is therefore our intention to continue to trade the business and meet customer orders whilst we explore options for the sale of the business.
"During the administration process we continue to trade the business and have retained a core staff of 74 employees in order to continue to meet our ongoing demand from a loyal customer base. Regrettably it has been necessary to make some redundancies in order to make ongoing trading viable. We have ensured that the staff made redundant have been provided with the necessary support to make timely claims from the Redundancy Payments Service.
"We would invite interested parties to make early contact.”
