Somerset-based furniture firm Longpre was sold out of administration for a total sum of £150,000.

Joint administrators Neil Vinnicombe and Paul Wood, from business recovery experts Begbies Traynor’s Bath office, were appointed on 1 March 2024 and oversaw the sale of Longpre Furniture Limited to connected company Longpre Limited.

The sale saw £5,000 paid on completion, with a further £20,000 to be paid during March and the remaining balance of £125,000 to be paid in 24 monthly instalments.

Longpre Furniture Ltd was placed into administration after being hit by financial losses on contracts, combined with increased prices for raw materials and utility costs. The sale safeguarded the jobs of 50 employees.

As for creditors, detailed in the administrators report, it is expected that the HMRC, owed over £1m, will receive a dividend of circa 51p to the pound from initial estimations. Meanwhile, it is anticipated that there will be insufficient funds to repay unsecured creditors, with claims totalling £928,000. It is expected that creditors will suffer a total shortfall of £1.4m.

Commenting on the sale, Neil Vinnicombe, Partner at Begbies Traynor in Bath, said: “The financial situation Longpre Furniture Ltd faced has made it a very challenging time for the business, so we are delighted to be able to secure the future of these jobs.

“The losses had a significant adverse effect on cashflow, and this coupled with general economic and market uncertainty resulted in a lack of confidence that trading forecasts could be achieved, so the sale of the business injects a new confidence now we have found a way forward.”