Preva Produce copy

Price Bailey's Matt Howard is joint administrator 

A fraud worth £1 million contributed to potato supplier Preva Produce going into administration and led to the loss of 28 jobs, administrators have said.

The company is to be wound down after fulfilling ongoing contracts rather than go into liquidation to ensure a better deal for creditors, with three staff retained to help fulfil the remaining orders.

A total of 200 unsecured creditors are owed over £4 million, around a quarter of whom are farmers and growers across the UK and East Anglia.

Administrator Price Bailey said it is now seeking a better result for the company’s creditors than would have been achieved by liquidation, through limited trading and completing existing contracts.

The discovery of the fraud highlighted an approximate £1m shortfall in debtors, according to the company’s balance sheet up to 30 June 2016, Price Bailey said. Significant cash flow pressures and difficult trading conditions were also factors in the firm’s decline.

“It was also clear at this point that reported stock values were higher than actual amounts,” a statement from Price Bailey said. The firm confirmed the fraud as well as “incorrect accounting procedures and practices concerning two previous employees”.

Preva Produce was established in 2001 to produce chipping and crisping potatoes for companies such as Walkers, Kettle, Asda and Morrisons.

The company’s packing operation in Snetterton, Norfolk, was suspended in November 2016 and Price Bailey has agreed a sale of the building and associated assets. There is also interest in other agricultural sites operated by Preva, the firm said.

Administrator Matt Howard said: “A final tender sale of the company’s remaining agricultural plant and machinery assets will now be held. The administrator’s agents, Edward Wells Chartered Surveyors, have arranged a viewing day at the company’s Foulsham, Little Snoring and Melton Constable sites on 31 March 2017.

“For further details of the sale, interested parties should contact Edward Wells on 01394 380450 or info@edwardwells.co.uk.”

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