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Celsius First goes into administration
Page 6
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Hauliers working for major chilled distribution firm Celsius First are nervously waiting to see if they will be paid. Dominic Perry reports.
CHILLED DISTRIBUTION firm Celsius First has gone into administration, putting over 400 jobs at risk and exposing many hauliers to crippling debts, It specialises in temperaturecontrolled distribution and storage, with clients including Jus-Rol and Birds Eye.
This week administrators Stephen Oldfield and David Chubb from PricewaterhouseCoopers were called in following "recent significant losses.., attributed to the reduced demand for frozen food storage and resulting increased price competition."
The administrators will con tinue to run the business as normal while they look for a buyer for the operation as a going concern. At this stage the amount owed to subcontractors is unknown, but with up to 60 hauliers working for it the figure is likely to be large.
Among these are Doncasterbased MTL Logistics, a sister company of Mill Transport, which worked solely for Celsius First.
A spokesman says: "MTL Logistics is continuing to trade with Celsius First and with the administrators, and is hopeful they will find a buyer."
Another subcontractor is Cheltenham,Glos-based Ralph Davies, which uses Celsius to provide backloads for its vehicles. Managing director Ralph Davies says that about 10% of its turnover was from work with Celsius First. He adds: We hadn't heard any rumours,otherwise we would have stopped working for them.
Celsius First was formerly called Frigoscandia; it was bought from US distribution giant ProLogis in 2003 in a deal backed by a number of private investors.
Its most recent accounts, for the year ending 30 November 2003, show that it made a £827,000 loss on a £58m turnover.
In early 2005 its parent company. Celsius First (Holdings), obtained a bank loan of almost 121m as part of a refinancing deal.