Chris Ratten and Jeremy Woodside from Baker Tilly were appointed today (1 July).

The company has ceased to trade with immediate effect, and all 150 staff have been made redundant.

Baker Tilly said the firm’s owner and director, chief executive Kevin Dunstall, had unsuccessfully attempted to secure a going concern sale of the business.

“Despite the best efforts of the director to secure a sale of the company as a going concern, this was ultimately not possible. As a result, the director had no alternative but to appoint administrators,” Baker Tilly said.

In a statement, Ratten said: “Despite securing a new working capital facility earlier this year, the cash flow issues at the company were such that administration was the only option to protect the remaining assets for the benefit of creditors.

“Regrettably we have had to make a number of people redundant today, and our specialist employee team will be assisting them to make the relevant claims with the Redundancy Payments Service. Our role now will be to maximise recoveries for the company’s creditors.”

Dunstall was uncontactable at the time of writing. 

He acquired the business just nine months ago from St Ives.

More to follow on this developing story.