Administrators for UK meat-free business The Meatless Farm Co. have been appointed, it was announced today (13 June).
Geoff Bouchier and Benjamin Wiles at financial advisors Kroll have been hired as administrators.
In a brief statement, Kroll said The Meatless Farm had hired the group as advisors at the end of May. Since then, Kroll added, it has been “exploring all options for the business and its assets”.
Meatless Farm, set up in 2016 and which supplied customers in the UK and a clutch of overseas markets, booked a net loss of £23.5m ($29.5m) for the year to 31 December 2021, wider than a £15.4m loss in the preceding 12 months, according to the most recent accounts filed with Companies House in London.
Turnover was £12.5m but with an operating loss of £22.9m. Total assets were listed as being £29.2m with £8.9m in liabilities.
Meatless Farm had previously secured backing from the likes of private-equity fund Stray Dog Capital and Swiss investment company Beyond Impact. In 2019, the business received an unquantified “seven-figure” investment from TV broadcaster Channel 4 via its Commercial Growth Fund in return for an undisclosed stake in the company.
The plant-based business pocketed $31m in September 2020, adding to a previous $17m funding round. The Danish publication Borsen, quoting Meatless Farm founder Morten Toft Bech, reported in 2020 that the company was after additional cash, equivalent at the time to $70m.
As well as UK listings with Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda and Morrisons, Meatless Farm was also supplying markets in Europe including Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. Outside of Europe, it was also selling into North America, the UAE, Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia.
Meatless Farm also had offices in Amsterdam, New York and Singapore. However, whether those markets and offices are still on the books cannot be verified by Just Food.
