Joe Delucci’s Gelato, the UK ice-cream supplier, has been bought from administration by investors including former operations manager Alexandra Beer.
The company, based in Warwick in central England, supplies UK supermarkets and has retail parlours in shopping malls in the UK. The acquisition will protect 38 jobs, the administrator said. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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The business had suffered after the UK’s vote to leave the EU hit the value of sterling and pushed up costs, administrators said.
Craig Povey and Richard Toone, partners at insolvency and restructuring firm CVR Global, were appointed administrators on 8 January after the supplier’s original efforts to agree a Company Voluntary Administration in November failed when it did not gain the support of enough creditors.
Povey said: “Joe Delucci’s Gelato has proven it has all of the makings of a profitable business with the relationships it has with big retailers and presence in some of the UK’s largest shopping malls, it was only until the Brexit vote hit that the business experienced a downturn in profitability due to sterling weakening against the euro.
“This resulted in costs from overseas suppliers increasing significantly, with the business being unable to pass said increases onto its customer base. This also sat against the backdrop of a challenging economic climate on the UK high street with individuals taking a more ‘cautious’ approach to discretionary spending in the period following the Brexit vote.
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By GlobalData“The company also suffered following changes to local authority rates policies, which resulted in units that were not previously subject to business rates falling chargeable, with such charges being backdated for up to three years.”
Alexandra Beer, the supplier’s former operations manager and now part-owner, said: “Brexit and changes on the high street caused fundamental changes in the business, which it was hoped would be addressed by a restructuring and turnaround plan which was supported by a significant number of creditors, including HMRC the largest creditor, and the company’s bankers.
“However, a small number of trade and other creditors disappointedly rejected the proposal, forcing the company through an administration.
“That said, we are excited for the business and it is now on the right footing to grow and deliver what we always believed it was capable of.”
