Trout farmer for sale as Dawnfresh folds
Scotland’s biggest trout producer, Dawnfresh Farming Ltd, has been put up for sale after parent company Dawnfresh Seafoods went into administration with the loss of 200 seafood processing jobs.
Dawnfresh, headquartered in Uddingston, near Glasgow, operates seven fish farms across Northern Ireland and Scotland with production and processing facilities in Uddingston and Arbroath.
Tom MacLennan, Callum Carmichael and Michelle Elliot, partners with FRP Advisory, have been appointed joint administrators.
Rising costs
In a press release, FRP said that Dawnfresh, which supplies a wide range of retail, wholesale, food service and export market clients with a fully integrated range of services, had benefited from extensive investment to upgrade the plant and systems, improve efficiency and reduce costs.
However, the business had continued to suffer from rising costs, overcapacity at the Uddingston site and unsustainable cash flow problems, with administration being the only option.
FRP said that administrators had secured a sale of the Arbroath facility to Lossie Seafoods Limited as a subsidiary of Associated Seafoods Limited in a deal that includes the transfer of all 249 staff to the new owners.
200 redundancies
However, the Uddingston facility, which was heavily loss-making, will close with immediate effect, resulting in 200 redundancies with 77 staff being retained to assist the joint administrators with the winding up process. The plant had already been earmarked by Dawnfresh for closure this year, with work moving to Arbroath.
FRP said the administrators will provide every assistance to those affected, including helping with redundancy payment claims and accessing third party support services. The assets of the Uddingston site, which includes the land, buildings and plant, will be marketed for sale.
Farming business
Callum Carmichael, partner with FRP, said: “Dawnfresh is a high profile and highly regarded seafood business with a long tradition of supplying innovative products to a blue-chip customer base.
“Unfortunately, the business has been unable to overcome very serious financial problems at the Uddingston facility, but we are pleased to have secured a prompt sale of the Arbroath facility in a deal that will also preserve substantial employment in the town. Our focus is now on finding a buyer for the farming business whilst also realising as much value as possible from the other assets for the benefit of creditors.”
Dawnfresh Farming Ltd will continue trading solvently. The business is being marketed for sale and interested parties are invited to contact FRP Advisory as soon as possible.
