Northern pig producer in administration
One of the UK’s largest outdoor-reared pig producers is in administration.
Adrian Berry and Clare Boardman of Deloitte were appointed joint administrators of Dent Ltd on 2 December by the company’s director.
Dent has many third-party growers across the North of England and the Midlands and employs 67 people from its headquarters at Penrith in Cumbria.
“We will liaise closely with the company’s customers and will work with management and the contract famers to ensure the highest standards of animal welfare are maintained,” said Mr Berry, a partner in restructuring services at Deloitte.
The business would continue to trade and no redundancies were planned at this stage, he said.
The administrators said that a formal sale process was under way and that they were in detailed discussions with a number of interested parties. They had spoken to all contracted farmers and held a briefing with them on Thursday 5 December, which was supported by the NFU and its legal advisors.
Dent Ltd expanded rapidly from the mid-2000s, and in 2011 had about 100 contracted pig producers, most of these finishers, along with 10 breeding contractors. At that time the business was finishing 100,000 pigs a year, including supplying 60% of the Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference range.
The administrators stressed that the appointment related only to the Dent Ltd business – dairy business North Lakes Foods Ltd and the Dent Company haulage business continue to trade as normal.
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