Sarah Raven bought out of administration, saving over 100 jobs

National gardening brand Sarah Raven Kitchen & Garden has been rescued with a management buy-out. The prepack administration was overseen by professionals from Begbies Traynor.

Garden and homeware company Sarah Raven Kitchen & Garden had experienced a number of years of growth, according to administrators. But having invested in expansion of the business by acquiring its own nursery, integrating technology and creating jobs for people in the area, it was left exposed to inflationary cost rises, tax changes on certain kinds of plants and other pressures.

This meant that despite having built strong foundations, it fell into financial difficulty. Appointing administrators Robert Ferne and David Rubin of Begbies Traynor on June 14th, more than 100 jobs were on the line.

Fortunately, the professionals were approached rapidly by more than 100 potential buyers and investors – enabling founder and manager Sarah Raven to conclude a management buy-out of the company’s assets, and safeguard all the company’s roles.

Rubin commented, “The company needed to seek a way forward to ensure its suppliers and creditors were paid, its employee jobs protected and that it could once more build on the foundations it had laid. After exploring all options, this route delivered a very good outcome for all stakeholders. It is because of this action that the business and its employees, with a refreshed leadership team, can look forward to serving its customers again.”

The joint administrators determined that an offer from Sarah Raven and the management team delivered "the best return for creditors and employees", as well as giving the company an opportunity to rebuild. A significant majority of the assets of Sarah Raven Kitchen & Garden Ltd have been acquired by the successor company, which will continue to operate and trade through the SarahRaven.com website. All forward orders and vouchers will be honoured, and employees will be transferred to the new company.

Sarah Raven added, “Building this brand has been my life’s work… The past few years have been challenging for British horticultural retailers, suppliers, and entrepreneurs, and despite all of our hard work, this is a necessary restructure of SarahRaven.com to guarantee the survival of the business. With the support of my family, and a major supplier, my ambition is to continue with everything we love about the best of gardening for our hundreds of thousands of loyal customers, for our dedicated and talented team, and for our network of suppliers, large and small across the UK and beyond.”