Irwin Mitchell Advises Begbies Traynor On Deal

Twenty-five jobs have been saved at Sheffield-based allergen free health food company, Delicious Alchemy Ltd, with the help of the Restructuring & Insolvency team at Irwin Mitchell.

Delicious Alchemy was established in 2006 and produced branded and own label allergen free breakfast cereals and baking mixes for the major supermarkets.

According to the administrators, the business suffered after the director of the business was forced to take two years out due to illness.

The company subsequently lost market share in its brand and became more dependent on own label. Revenue fell after it lost a key own label contract and this was exacerbated by the impact of the pandemic.

Delicious Alchemy sought insolvency advice from Begbies Traynor, working with specialist asset adviser, Eddisons.

Kris Wigfield, Jo Hammond and Andrew Mackenzie of Begbies Traynor were subsequently appointed as joint administrators. After a period of marketing the business via Eddisons, a pre-packaged sale to Client Management Ltd (CML) was completed. The business is continuing to trade and all 25 jobs have been transferred to the buyer.

Kris Wigfield, partner at Begbies Traynor, said: "This was a satisfying job to work on as it saw a Sheffield business being saved, together with numerous staff retaining their jobs. It was unusual in that so many professionals across the city were involved and is a great example of the depth of expertise that we have in this region."

The administrators were advised by Tom Paton, Sally Essex and Curtis Blackham from Irwin Mitchell’s Restructuring & Insolvency Team, with support from Real Estate specialist Anastasija Koslova and Employment Associate Kelly Gibson.

Expert Opinion

“This deal safeguards all 25 jobs and allows the business to move on from a number of unfortunate factors which drove down market share and revenues. Trading conditions remain tough but Delicious Alchemy operates in a growth sector and is in a strong position to grow.” Tom Paton - Partner