Crawshaw Group Regulatory News (CRAW)

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 ("MAR").

Crawshaw Group plc

Appointment of Administrators

Store closures and offering for sale the Group's business and assets

Resignation of Non-Executive Director

Resignation of Nomad and Broker

Appointment of Administrators

Crawshaw Group plc ("Crawshaw" or the "Company" or, together with its subsidiaries, the "Group") announces that Robert Hunter Kelly and Charles Graham John King, both of Ernst & Young LLP, were appointed joint Administrators to the following companies within the Group on Friday 2 November 2018;

The appointments were made by the respective companies' directors under the provisions of paragraph 22(2) of Schedule B1 to the Insolvency Act 1986.

These appointments follow the previous announcement made by the Company on Wednesday 31 October 2018, when it was advised that, after several years of financial losses and the unsuccessful attempt to raise the additional investment required to fund a restructuring plan, Administrators would be appointed.

Store closures and offering for sale the Group's business and assets

Following consideration of the Group's financial position, the Group has ceased to trade from 35 stores and continues to trade from 19 stores which remain open and are trading as normal. The distribution centre at Astley has been closed and the stores and the Group's remaining businesses are being serviced and supplied from the Group's remaining distribution centre at Hellaby. 

As a result of the store closures it has been necessary to restructure the workforce for economic, organisational and technical reasons. This has resulted in 354 redundancies with the Group continuing to employ 261 staff to trade from, support and supply the 19 stores that remain open and operational as well as supply the three butcher's counters which are being trialled in Spar stores and the wholesale operations.

The joint Administrators have offered the Group's business and assets for sale and have entered into discussions with interested parties with a view to agreeing a sale over the coming weeks. Interested parties who have not yet commenced discussions should contact the joint Administrators for further information - hkelly@uk.ey.com and cking1@uk.ey.com.

Resignation of Non-Executive Director

Crawshaw announces that Stephen Henderson advised the Board on Friday 2 November 2018 that he wishes to stand down as Non-Executive Director. Stephen will retire from the Crawshaw Board with immediate effect.

Jim McCarthy, Chairman, commented: "The Board and I would like to thank Stephen for his support to Crawshaw since his appointment last year. We wish him well in his future endeavours."

Resignation of Nomad and Broker

Crawshaw further announces that Peel Hunt LLP has served its 30 day notice terminating its engagement with the Company as its nominated adviser ("Nomad") and broker, pursuant to a previous announcement on Thursday 4 October 2018.

The Company has not yet appointed a replacement Nomad and given the Company and Group's financial status, the Company does not intend to seek a replacement Nomad. The Company is aware of its obligations regarding the appointment (and continued appointment) of a Nomad under AIM Rule 1. Should the Company fail to appoint a replacement Nomad within one month of the date of this announcement, trading in the Company's securities on AIM will be cancelled.

The Company's securities remain suspended on AIM pursuant to the announcement dated Wednesday 31 October 2018.

Ends