Aldridge went into administration leaving 2m of debt

Failed printer Aldridge Print Group owed more than 2m when it went into administration in June.

According to the administrator’s report, Blue Printing Company (BPC), which bought the assets of the company from insolvency practitioner Grant Thornton, will pay a total of £175,000 for Aldridge; however, this could drop to £145,000.
The administrator also said that it did not expect there to be any money available for unsecured creditors.
Paper companies were owed almost £450,000, with the largest single deficit being £136,671 and a number of companies losing in the region of £30,000 each.
Finishing companies were hit for almost £100,000 worth of debt, with one losing £32,451.
Blue Printing Group itself was owed £17,993, while Aldridge’s digital sister business, BD3, was owed £67,183. HMRC was left with a £661,452 bad debt and Royal Mail was left £42,622 short.
Of the £175,000 the administrator valued the business at, £50,000 was paid on the completion of the deal. The remainder is to be paid in three instalments: £42,000 on 20 September, £42,000 on 20 December and £41,000 on 20 March.
However, BPC also has the opportunity to make a one-off payment of £95,000 before 31 August, bringing the total to just £145,000, which the administrator said reflected the reduced risk.
Initially, Grant Thornton was approached by Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance on 6 April to look into Aldridge’s short-term cash flow forecasts. The administrator marketed the company to a number of printers in a 25-mile radius, which generated five interested parties.
"They were not able to commit to leasing the company premises," the report stated. "Of the remaining two interested parties, it became clear one was not able to commit to completion within a sustainable timeframe."
The report stated that it was not possible to sell APG as a going concern because nobody was prepared to acquire it "whole".