Chris Pole and Mark Orton, partners from KPMG Restructuring, have been appointed joint administrators to specialist meat supplier Russell Hume Ltd, which was the centre of a food standards scare last month and which has now ceased trading with the loss of over 250 jobs
Headquartered in Derby and operating from six production sites in Liverpool, Birmingham, London, Boroughbridge, Exeter and Fife, the company supplied meat to a number of hotels, restaurants and pubs across the UK, including Jamie Oliver’s Italian restaurant chain and Wetherspoons. It employed a total of 302 people.
The company’s collapse followed on from a halt in production across all its sites last month, when products were recalled after an investigation was launched by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) into allegations of non-compliance with food hygiene regulations.
Chris Pole, partner at KPMG and joint administrator, said: ‘The recent product recall and halt in operations has caused significant customer attrition and trading difficulties, which in turn has led the directors to take the decision to place the company into administration.
‘Regrettably, with little prospect of production restarting on site, a total of 266 people have been made redundant. Our priority over the coming days will be to work with all affected employees to provide the assistance they need in claiming monies owed from the redundancy payments office.
‘We will also be seeking buyers for the business and its assets.’
Report by Pat Sweet
