Seed specialist trouble
Seed specialist trouble
NORFOLK-BASED seed specialist Gorham and Bateson has called in an administrator, leaving many seed growers uncertain about this years payments.
Lovewell Blake, the East Anglia-based accountancy firm, will run the business, which claims to be one of the largest seed developers in the UK, until a buyer has been found.
Andrew Turner, of the accountants business recovery division in Lowestoft, Suffolk, said it was actively looking for purchasers to buy it as a going concern, which includes the 20,000t seed processing plant at Swaffham, in Norfolk, last year.
He added that it was also talking to the British Society of Plant Breeders regarding licenses that enable the company to sell on seed for certain types of crop.
It is understood that these were withdrawn by the BSPB as soon as Gorham and Bateson went into administration.
A BSPB spokesman said: "We are in negotiation with the administrators to make sure contract growers and plant breeders get a good and speedy resolution to the problem that has arisen as a result of Gorham and Bateson appointing an administrator." *