Crawshaw axes 350 jobs as administrators called in

The company, which has stores across the Midlands and the North of England, said Ernst & Young were appointed as administrators on Friday and that 261 staff will continue to work from 19 shops and its Hellaby distribution centre.

Wholesale operations and Spar butcher’s counters will also continue to operate, though the outfit’s second distribution centre in Astley has closed its doors.

The group's business and assets have been offered for sale and discussions have begun with interested parties with a view to agreeing a sale over the coming weeks.

The news comes after Crawshaw posted a pretax loss of £1.7m for the six months to 29 July and failed in fundraising efforts to fund a restructuring plan.

The AIM traded company also confirmed that non-executive director Stephen Henderson has retired from the board with immediate effect.

Jim McCarthy, chairman, said: "The board and I would like to thank Stephen for his support to Crawshaw since his appointment last year. We wish him well in his future endeavours."

Crawshaw’s shares were unchanged at 2.00p at 0820 GMT.