August 18, 2011

UK's Jeffrey Davies & Davies ends business

UK meat wholesaler and processor, Jeffrey Davies & Davies, has stopped its business after being placed into administration due to a lack of funds.

Matt Haw and David Hudson, partners at Baker Tilley, have been appointed to handle the process, which has seen 90 employees lose their jobs.

The company's meat processing plant in Gillingham will now be put up for sale.

However, JF Edwards & Sons, the Smithfield-based trader that was formerly owned by the company, remains unaffected and was purchased in a management buyout ahead of Jeffrey Davies & Davies collapsing.

No one was available to comment at Jeffrey Davies & Davies, but it is understood that the company had been impacted by the ongoing recession. The company was started in 1977 by Jeffrey Davies and grew to become one of the biggest traders on Smithfield.

First a wholesaler, the company also developed a meat manufacturing business - boning, cutting and preparing pork and other meats. It supplied pork, vacuum-packed, chilled and frozen, to wholesalers and retailers, as well as manufacturers. In 2008, it moved from Sevenoaks in Kent to Gillingham.

Haw said:"Due to a lack of funding the business has ceased trading and all the staff have regrettably been made redundant. We are seeking purchasers for the state-of-the-art meat processing facility."