Well-regarded Hertfordshire haulier Funstons has been forced to close its doors after the loss of a major contract with Waitrose, which represented more than half of its annual turnover.
As MT reported last month (MT 26 Nov), rival chilled produce operator Solstor was handed the Waitrose chilled produce deal, running from a site near Peterborough, following a tendering process by the supermarket.
However, as the Waitrose contract comprised around 60% of the firm's £6m turnover, once it was lost, there was little choice left for its directors.
As a result, joint administrators Gareth Roberts and Paul Ellison, from corporate recovery firm Tenon, were appointed on Monday 7 December.
Roberts says that although the firm made a profit of £100,000 in its last financial year, ended 31 December 2008, its liabilities made it unable to continue in a smaller form.
He adds: "The company's directors spent the past six weeks looking at the options and whether they could continue to trade, but the extent of its liabilities was too great.
"It was never going to generate enough income [in its reduced form] to meet those. Closure was a fairly inevitable decision."
The bulk of Funstons' fleet had already been transferred across to Solstor along with around 50 employees, leaving around 15 staff at its Royston base who have now been made redundant, Roberts adds.
Two of its other customers had also migrated to other transport firms once the implications of the loss of the Waitrose work became clear, he says. "They were nervous about its ability to continue to trade," he adds, "so they took steps to look after themselves."
Barclays Bank is owed around £350,000 by the company, but Roberts says it is too early to say what its total liabilities are or whether there will be a dividend for creditors.
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