Struggling Oxfordshire abattoir Mutchmeats sold to new owners

Oxfordshire-based abattoir Mutchmeats of Witney has been sold to SMS Food Group – a company “connected to the previous management” – in a “pre-pack deal” after being put in administration.

Paul Ellison and Christopher Errington of KRE Corporate Recovery in Reading were appointed as joint administrators on 16 September and immediately sold the assets to SMS Food Group.

See also: Defra pledges £3m fund for small abattoirs in England

“The business was in the process of putting a restructuring plan in place via refinancing,” they said in a statement.

“However, while attempting to manage its current liabilities, it received a winding up petition from a creditor, which was quickly supported by a number of other creditors and was due to be heard on 1 October 2025.

“The company was not in a position to defend the petition and therefore KRE Corporate Recovery were engaged to market the assets of the company for sale.”

Marketing process

The marketing process ran from 21 August to 16 September. On the same day, the assets of Mutchmeats were sold to SMS Food Group, “a company connected to the previous management and shareholders”.

Companies House identifies Gareth Morgan and Leigh John Morgan from Abingdon, Oxfordshire as having “significant control” of SMS Food Group. Nigel Morgan is listed as having had a “significant control” of Mutchmeats.

“The successful bid was significantly higher than other bids and a professional valuation and an independent evaluator from the Pre Pack Pool approved the sale process,” said the statement, adding that SMS Food Group intends to re-open the business “as soon as possible”.

Multi-species abattoir

Mutchmeats was established in 1981, operating as a multi-species abattoir, offering both wholesale and private slaughter.

It supplied high quality meats to butchers, and the company owned its freehold trading premises and had about 35 employees.

Rumours of the company’s demise had been growing, not least since Hope’s Auctioneers of Wigton, Cumbria – one of the abattoir’s creditors – submitted a “petition to wind up” the company to the High Court of Justice, Business and Property in early August.

Recent financial reports from Mutchmeats are scant.

A balance sheet submitted to Companies House for the year to 31 December 2022 revealed total assets of £9.71m, and total liabilities of £9.34m – though the creditors due repayment within one year had grown from £6.36m a year earlier to £8.24m.

The last profit and loss statement covered the year 2021, with an operating loss of £860,000 on turnover of £27.6m.

Deteriorated trading position

Since then, the trading position would seem to have deteriorated.

According to the “pre-pack administration sale” document released by KRE Corporate Recovery in early August, Mutchmeats’ turnover for 2024 had grown to an estimated £33.4m, but with losses on those sales estimated at £6.7m.

For the first five months of this year, KRE Corporate Recovery said turnover came to about £4.9m, with losses of £1.8m.

It remains unclear whether the auction marts and individual farmers owed money by Mutchmeats will be reimbursed by the new owners.

“This information will be included in our Administration Proposals report, which has to be issued within eight weeks of our appointment,” said Mr Errington. “However, we expect it to be issued sooner than that.”