Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Red Rose Cookware has blamed cash flow problems for forcing the company into liquidation.
The cookware supplier, which provided own-label and Red Rose branded products to a wide range of retailers, ceased trading in March but went into liquidation last month after 35 years of trading.
Managing director Paul Threse told HousewaresLive.net: “The last four years saw turnover rise 33% year on year, which caused cash flow problems – especially after large losses incurred last year due to exchange rates, as all products were produced in China.
“It was difficult to pass the price increases on, and last year we suffered losses of about £250,000, although we had lots of good customers and lots of orders.”
He said that the company’s difficulties had been compounded by an over-delivery of stock.
“One of our Chinese factories sent loads of containers all together so we had, at one point, 30 containers on the quay. I think the factory wanted to clear a lot of stock. So when we were having cash flow problems anyway it made it uneconomical to go on and I couldn’t put any more money into the business.”
Threse said he would now be developing direct container business, though not necessarily within the cookware category.
