Typhoo Tea falls into adminstration

"The company has been exploring a sale of the business and assets which is in the process of concluding," Kroll said.

"The administration process provides Typhoo Tea with protection, allowing the Joint Administrators to finalise the sale in order to rescue the business."

Manchester-based Supreme, which stocks and distributes Duracell and Energiser batteries as well as Elf Bar vapes, is on the cusp of buying the firm in an attempt to diversify its business.

It does not currently stock or distribute any tea brands, but it does work with brands of soft drinks, gym supplements and multivitamin gummies.

Supreme said talks were at an "advanced stage" but that "no final terms of the potential acquisition have been agreed".

Kroll added that Typhoo had been dealing with "significant cash flow constraints as a result of supply chain disruptions and subsequent service issues".

According to the firm's latest results, which cover the year to the end of September 2023, pre-tax losses widened to £38m from £9.6m and sales fell to £25.3m from £33.7m.

Meanwhile, the company's debts have ballooned to greater than the value of its assets.

The results also revealed £24.1m worth of "exceptional costs", some of which relate to the break-in at the Moreton plant, which was shut down last year.

Typhoo said: "During August 2023, a group of organised trespassers broke into the Moreton site and occupied it for several days."

It added that the trespassers caused "extensive damage" and made the site "inaccessible".

Typhoo said a lot of tea was rendered unusable and it was unable to fulfil some orders to customers.