Deloitte administrators sell Morrisons training provider in pre-pack
Training provider sold in pre-pack - but Morrisons contract excluded
DELOITTE ADMINISTRATORS has sold Morrisons training provider Elmfield via a pre-pack, saving more than 300 jobs.
Dan Smith, Dominic Wong and Paul Meadows from Deloitte, were appointed joint administrators of Elmfield Training, a vocational training provider based in Warrington and sold the business to EQL Solutions, a subsidiary of CareTech.
However, the Morrisons contract was not part of the deal and is likely to be taken over by another provider along with about 50 staff associated with that contract.
Elmfield employed about 350 staff with about 300 of them moving over to EQL Solutions as part of the deal. The pre-pack has managed to maintain around 5,700 places for those already enrolled in a training programme.
Smith said: “The sale ends a period of great uncertainty for employees and ensures disruption to learners is minimised.”
“Elmfield was historically profitable, but incurred a loss before tax of £6.4m in 2012. Whilst underlying profitability was restored in 2013, the company’s cash position continued to worsen.”
According to the Liverpool Daily Post, Elmfield was paid more than £60m in public cash to train apprentices for Morrisons. However, it later became the centre of a government inquiry after claims it falsified records in a big to claim extra state money.