240 jobs saved as new firm acquires Yorkshire butcher chain Crawshaws

An acquisition deal announced this morning (December 3) has saved hundreds of jobs at struggling butcher chain Crawshaw Group PLC.

The Yorkshire-based company went under last month and appointed a team from professional services giant EY as joint administrators.

Crawshaw Group was snapped up over the weekend by Loughanure Limited, a business formed for the purpose of the sale, securing the continued employment of around 240 staff.

During the sale process led by EY administrators Hunter Kelly and Charles King, more than 50 expressions of interest were offered for part or all of the Crawshaws business.

Loughanure has paid around £1.4m for certain elements of the group’s business and assets, subject to adjustment following completion of a stock count.

Crawshaw Group has stopped trading as a result of the deal. The business will continue under Loughanure.

The joint administrators are continuing to market certain closed stores and other related assets, in addition to recovering outstanding debtors.

Rotherham-headquartered Crawshaws recorded a 51% revenue uplift in April 2016 as it pursued an aggressive store expansion strategy. Like-for-like sales dipped 4% later that year, but the company pressed on with the roll out of new stores across the North West and Yorkshire.

In November, Crawshaws was forced to call in administrators and make 354 staff redundant across its network of 54 fresh meat and food-to-go stores.

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