Re-Grade Exports Limited (03350919): administration
- Status
- Administration ended
- Administration began
- 2013-07-18
- Formerly
- Retrograde Ltd
- Incorporated
- 1997-04-11
- Location
- Chatham Maritime
- Industry
- 46420 Wholesale of clothing and footwear
Why it went into administration
- Competition / price pressure
- Energy costs
- HMRC / tax arrears
- Bad debts / customer insolvency
- Sustained trading losses
From the administrators' statement
We have been advised that the Company was incorporated in 1993 and intially operated on a very small scale, dealing with a very restricted range of products The Company grew substantially, with turnover peaking during the year ended 31 March 2012 at some £11m The sectors that the Company operated in by this time had expanded and the Company not only now collected material for recycling but also carried out the recycling themselves for sale to third parties, mainly overseas
The Company expanded rapidly between 2010 and 2012, with tumover increasing by 266% over the period However ths expansion, which included the opening of two new depots, based initially in Wakefield and Bristol, caused significant strains on the management structure The expansion also led to contracts being taken on that were logistically challenging and subject to change part way through Management recognised that the decision taken to expand the business so rapidly was not the nght one, especially in view of the fundamental changes to the environment in which the Company operated during that period
The period of expansion coincided with the onset of the recession and the entry into the market of many new competitors The market for recycling, especially of clothing, also changed, with Charities suffering reduced collections due to the opening of cash for clothes outlets and the public looking to increase household income by way of boot fairs, eBay and other online mediums in the Chanty market, the introduction of new competitors drove up the prices being paid for clothing and other items to uneconomic levels Management advised that in order to maintain tonnage at levels required for the infrastructure, some contracts were agreed that were subsequently found to be loss making Not only were the prices being paid for the items too high but the costs of collection, in particular fuel costs, increased rapidly during the period
Administrators' statement of proposals (2013-09-13) · Companies House register