Farmison & Co: Farmers out of pocket after meat firm collapse

Farmison, launched in 2011 as a sustainable online meat retailer, employed 75 people in North Yorkshire when it went bust in April

Farmers and unsecured creditors owed a total of more than £7m following the collapse of an online butcher have been told they will not get money back despite a rescue deal.

An administrator report revealed trade suppliers and about a dozen rare breed meat farmers were left out of pocket when Farmison & Co went bust in April.

The group employed 75 staff in Ripon, most of whom were made redundant.

Farmison & Co has since resumed trading after it was bought by investors.

The FRP Advisory report estimates there will not be enough funds to make any payouts to unsecured creditors.

The new owners said they had since signed up the majority of its farmers to continue supplying meat and re-hired more than 40 of the workers let go.

'Backlog of pigs'

Yorkshire Woodland Pork in Ripon said it was owed nearly £2,000 by Farmison & Co, with the collapse having a "bulldozer effect" on the business.

Lexi Staveley, from the firm, said: "Fortunately we have now got a local farm shop which is taking pigs from us, but we ended up with a backlog of pigs that were ready to go."

Iceni Studios, a film production company which made films for Farmison & Co, said it was owed more than £5,300.

Georgia Bagnall, founder of Iceni, said: "We were about to hire and to move office, but we're now putting that on hold.

"As a young business trying to grow organically, this has really affected our cashflow - we were relying on them to pay their bills on time."

A spokesman for the new owners of Farmison & Co said: "We're pleased to have rescued the business from administration, re-employing many of the team in Ripon and bringing back its hand-picked farmers from across the north of England.

"We're already trading again and we're grateful for the messages of support from customers."