Farmdrop administration – no prospect of payout to suppliers

Farm businesses supplying online retailer Farmdrop are among 450-plus unsecured trade creditors owed almost £2.6m and unlikely to see any payment.

The company went into administration on 17 December, having taken delivery of Christmas supplies but leaving customers without delivery of their orders.

See also: Background to Farmdrop administration

There are more than 50 farm-based businesses on the creditor list, which forms part of the administrator’s recently released statement of affairs. As well as primary producer suppliers, some of these will be farm-based diversifications and food business tenants of diversified farms.   

Farmer creditors include poultry, meat, dairy, fruit, vegetable and wine producers, along with many hundreds of small and artisan food businesses, as well as equipment and general business suppliers such as energy and insurance companies.

The summary of assets shows an estimated realisable value of £666,452, compared with the book value of almost £1.35m.

These are dwarfed by the company’s liabilities – total unsecured creditors stand at more than £21m, represented by almost £7.3m of unsecured debt, almost £600,000 owed to HMRC PAYE and £436,708 of unsecured employee claims.

Christopher John Ferguson of RMT Accountants & Business Advisors was appointed administrator on Friday 17 December by Farmdrop’s directors, after suppliers were told by email on 16 December that Farmdrop would be taking no more deliveries.