Processor holds out hope for buyer

DIRECTORS OF south-west meat processor Triple S Ranch, which has gone into voluntary liquidation after cash flow problems, are confident that a buyer will be found.

The firm, which was hailed as a model for farmer co-op processing and marketing, went into liquidation last month.

Its total liabilities exceed its asset value by £27,000, according to Scott Kippax, insolvency manager at Plymouth-based Neville Hatton.

So while most creditors should be paid, shareholders who invested almost £590,000 in the £2.5m project are unlikely to see much return.

But Mr Kippax was reasonably confident that a buyer would be found for the company assets, which include a state-of-the-art processing facility near Newton Abbot, Devon.

“We‘ve had a number of interested parties,” he said.

NFU livestock chairman Richard Haddock, one of a group of four farmers who set up the company six years ago, said 20 staff were made redundant, but no money was outstanding on livestock sold to the firm.

He blamed a lack of support by shareholders, volatile prices and a shortage of stock. “I think you‘ll see another 11 processors go in the next 12 months if the government doesn‘t lift the OTMS.”