# Darwins Catering Limited (04744105)

> Why UK company 04744105 went into administration, from the administrators' statement filed at Companies House, by companydig. Interactive version: https://companydig.co.uk/company/04744105

- **Status:** Administration ended
- **Administration began:** 2012-12-14
- **Incorporated:** 2003-04-25
- **Location:** Rugby
- **Industry:** 46390 Non-specialised wholesale of food, beverages and tobacco

## Why it went into administration

- Creditor pressure / legal action
- Cash flow / liquidity pressure
- Bad debts / customer insolvency
- Competition / price pressure

## From the administrators' statement

The Company was incorporated on 25" April 2003 in order to provide sandwiches and snacks at lunchtime to independent distributors in and around London via a network of delivery bicycles The Company trades from 7 main premises, situated in Lambeth, Tower Hill, Euston, Acton, Hammersmith, Isleworth and Wimbledon

The Company was performing well with profits being made year on year and at its peak, in the year to 31" March 2007, pre-tax profits of approxtmately £260,000 were made However, when the credit crunch hit, sales took a dramatic decline resulting in losses of £58,728, £23,935 and £37,730 tn the last 3 full years of trading (being the years to March 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively) Management accounts provided to this office also showed that whilst the losses had been reduced, for the first quarter of the year to March 2013, the Company still made a loss of £3,340 73 The Director also advised that management accounts in his possession show that the Company was making losses of approximately £60,000 for the last stx months of trading

The Director mainly attributes the losses to the credit crunch, resulting in fewer sales than forecasted and unsuccessful attempts to merge with Anchor Catering Limited in February 2010 which caused the Company to experience high restructuring costs and quality issues Coupled with the above, the Company had also expenenced a bad debt of approximately £174,000 in April 2009 which had severely affected the cash flow of the Company Due to irreconcilable differences, the Company de-merged from Anchor Catering Limited in December 2011 which enabled some cost savings and improvements to be achieved however a further bad debt of approximately £50,000 was expenenced by the Company in that year causing the overall loss of £37,730

Statement of proposals: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/04744105/filing-history/MzA3MjYzNjE3MGFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf&download=0
Companies House register: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/04744105

Contains public sector information from Companies House, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.