CiA
Drop Celebrity from Antony Worrall Thompson and add Business Fool!
It’s good to see Antony Worrall Thompson in the news again and I am quite surprised he is not making a big hoo haa about his poor business skills. I did a short post on AWT not so long ago (10th February 2009 – Celebrity chef ‘Antony Worrall Thompson’ goes into administration) and he also appears in my CCV (Celebrity Crunch Victims) page.
He was making a big fuss about the banks not lending him more money for his FOUR DOOMED RESTAURANTS. As if they would? Just because he is a so called “celebrity“, he thinks he is special and should get a lot of media attention and help from the banks. At the time I said he must have run his businesses very poorly to have gone into administration.
Well I stumbled upon this intresting article today. It seems his administrators believe he ran his business poorly. Isn’t that interesting?
Read the full article here – How celebrity chef cooked up financial mess?
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Mountgrange have gone into administration.
Edinburgh’s biggest development project in a decade has been put on hold after the firm behind it went into administration.
The £300m Caltongate development by Mountgrange Capital has faltered after the developer said the Bank of Scotland had pulled out its financial support.
Mountgrange said the bank had classified its loan as a “toxic asset”.
The development in the city’s Old Town attracted hundreds of objections from campaigners and heritage groups.
The plans included a luxury hotel, an office complex and 200 homes.
It was the biggest project in Edinburgh since the construction of the £414m Scottish Parliament, and was expected to take up to five years to complete.
Companies that went into administration week ending 13/03/2009.
- MVM London (Events) – part of the same group that includes Moving Venue Caterers, MVM Sydney and MVM Dubai – has confirmed it has been placed in administration.
- 23 jobs have been axed at Livingston based baker Patisserie UK after it was put into administration following the loss of a major contract with Costa Coffee.
- Plasplugs founded by Stuart Turner in the early 1970s, is in administration. The Burton-on-Trent based business has been in trouble for the last three weeks and its offices have been deserted since the start of the month.
- More than 120 staff at coach company Fraser Eagle have been made redundant after administrators took control of the ailing company.
- One of Hampshire’s oldest established computer firms has gone into administration and put scores of jobs at risk. Minstead based Triangle Computer Services went to the wall after a “dramatic fall in demand” saw income plummet to just ten per cent of forecast levels.
Wrekin Construction Group placed into administration.
It seems Wrekin, which was established in 1960, is about to go into administration because RBS will not lend them a short-term loan of £2million.
The bank has refused, despite being 70 per cent owned by the Government and having recently accepted a bailout of £20billion in taxpayers’ cash.
A spokesman for the building firm said:
Wrekin has an overdraft facility of £4.25million and we were overdrawn by £2.8million. However, winding-up petitions have resulted in the accounts being frozen. The current order book, up to the beginning of March 2009, was £40million. Today, we have received two new orders, each valued at £5million a year for the next five years.
Possible job losses of 500 people.
Companies that went into administration week ending 14/02/2009.
- Hughmark International, which runs the High Wycombe’s market has gone into administration.
- The company responsible for managing the ill-fated gallery space in Will Alsop’s The Public has ceased trading and gone into administration. All 32 of the company’s staff have been made redundant, with Baker Tilly appointed as administrator.
- Stylo joins its shoe businesses into administration. The owner of the PriceLess and Barratt shoe chains, Stylo Plc, has gone into administration after being unable to reach agreements with creditors and landlords.Stylo will join Priceless and Barratts in administration after landlords and creditors rejected a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), which would have enabled Stylo to restructure its debt, and close 150 of its 400 stores.
- Black Country manufacturer Jebron and its sister company Jebron Plating have gone into administration. Administrators James Martin and John Lowe of business recovery specialists Begbies Traynor said the move was necessary to secure the future of the two businesses, which are based in Kings Hill, Wednesbury.
- Quality Resorts Hotels has gone into administration, according to press reports from Commercial Court 1 de Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The company based in Adeje, has declared itself in a situation of voluntary liquidation for debts with the company Incesa, but the legal declaration is a call to all creditors to make their claims.
Celebrity chef ‘Antony Worrall Thompson’ goes into administration.
Here is a story getting a lot of news today and all because AWT is a “CELEBRITY”, which in layman terms means he is somehow better than you and I.
Forget the fact that four of his restaurants have gone into administration. Why has he got four restuarants in the first place? Why not run two and ensure they are doing well and then open another one or two when the others are firmly grounded? Businesses go into administration for a reason, because they are badly managed, can’t pay the bills, are most likely running at a loss. Dah…
Just because it’s been the cool thing in the past to cook up masses of debt, doesn’t mean it’s right Mr Celebrity. I think AWT has been a bit greedy and now it’s come back to bite him on the arse. Yes the banks have been at fault as well, but 4 wrongs don’t make a right.
AWT said: It makes me cry. It is just appalling. I am furious, to be honest, that the banks didn’t support me.
Stop winging about your losses. Think about those poor staff that you have made redundant. They should be the ones crying.
Job losses = Unknown
Hudson & Middleton Ltd go into administration.
19 jobs have been lost at Hudson & Middleton because the company has gone into administration. They have been around since 1895. You would have thought in that time they would have figured out how to make money.
Their website claims they are one of the last remaining ‘bone china mug makers‘ in Britain… that is a shame! I wonder why the English Heritage have not stepped in and saved them… Hey! there is an idea for English Heritage.
Jesse Shirley and Son Limited, is another pottery company facing the same demise as Hudson & Middleton and sadly 36 jobs are going at this family run business.
Job losses: 55
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McLeish Brothers go into administration.
Quoted from Tenon Press
The origins of the company stretch back more than 60 years when the McLeish family started a butcher and grocery business in Dundee. Still headquartered in the city, the business was acquired by new owners in 2007, rebranded as McLeish Brothers and launched an ambitious store opening programme across Scotland, which was to be followed by further expansion into England.
Job losses: 175
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Passion for Perfume goes into administration.
Quoted from Reuters
Passion for Perfume became Britain’s latest victim of the consumer downturn on Monday, appointing administrators (Deloitte) and making 194 staff redundant.
Job losses: 194
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Game over for Zavvi as they go into administration.
Quoted from the BBC
Music, games and DVD chain Zavvi has gone into administration, Ernst & Young has announced, threatening 3,400 jobs.
The troubled chain has been badly affected by the demise of Woolworths, which forced it to stop taking new orders via its website.
Zavvi’s main supplier is Woolworths’ unit Entertainment UK (EUK), which went into administration on 27 November.
The daft thing about ZAVVI was that they sold almost exactly the same goods as HMV and in a lot of places such as Oxford Street, Canary Wharf, Bluewater, Lakeside there would be these two stores almost side by side. How on earth did they think they could compete? Richard Branson definitely got out of this business at the right time.
Job Losses: 3400
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Woolworths goes into administration.
Quoted from The Guardian
Debt-stricken retail group Woolworths is to go into administration, putting thousands of jobs at risk.
The company employs about 30000 people at its 815 stores and its Entertainment UK distribution business.Woolworths, a fixture on Britain’s high street for almost 100 years, has been teetering on the brink of collapse in recent days as it struggles with debts of £385m.
No wonder it went into administration. How can the management running the business allow it to go so far into debt?
These managers, directors and CEO should be held accountable. It’s all very well closing down the stores and sacking thousands of people, but surely someone or a group of people should go to jail. That is as good as stealing from a bank.
Job Losses: 30000 – 2500 = 27500
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- The Guardian
- Telegraph
- This is London (Evening Standard) – Iceland buys 51 Woolworths Stores and saves 2500 jobs.
MFI goes into administration.
Quoted from Timesonline
MFI, the UK’s biggest furniture retailer, collapsed into administration tonight for the second time in two months — putting more than 1,000 jobs at risk.
The administrators, MCR, will now attempt to sell the business as a going concern but, in the meantime, ‘closing down’ sales will be launched in all 111 of MFI’s remaining stores. It is thought unlikely that any buyer will come forward.
And some 26 stores will close immediately at the request of Galiform — the joinery company which previously owned MFI’s stores — with the immediate loss of around 260 jobs.
Job losses: 1000
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Rosebys enters administration.
Quoted from the Daily Mail
Rosebys, the UK’s largest specialist home furnishings group with 280 stores nationwide employing 2000 staff, is in the hands of rescue accountants from KPMG today as sales at the £100million turnover chain dried up.
‘In common with many retailers the group has experienced difficult trading conditions, leading to continuing losses,’ said administrator Howard Jones. ‘Rosebys has recently sought to refinance but this did not prove possible in the current economic climate.’
Job losses: 2000
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Silverjet grounded into administration.
Quoted from Jaunted
Silverjet has gone the way of Maxjet and Eos, grounding its planes after running out of cash. The all business class carrier was the last to fly the NYC to London route, but despite promises of financing, the money just never materialized.
Job Losses: 420
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