Iconic British tea firm Typhoo saved after collapsing into administration

4 weeks ago admin

Typhoo Tea has been sold to a vapes and drinks manufacturer after the historic firm collapsed into administration.

The 120-year-old brand has been snapped up by Supreme, in a deal worth £10.2million. Supreme does not expect there to be any disruption to supply of Typhoo during the acquisition process. Typhoo appointed administrators at Kroll last week following several years of declining sales and mounting debts.

The historic tea business also suffered from a break-in at its Wirral factory in August last year, which caused "extensive damage" and left it unable to fulfil large numbers of customer orders. Its latest company filings showed a £38million loss last year, while sales fell by a quarter to £25.3million. Typhoo was founded in 1903 and is currently majority-owned by private equity firm Zetland Capital. It understood to have around 100 employees.

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The deal was confirmed as new owner Supreme is looking to expand its business away from vaping, ahead of a Government crackdown on disposable vapes. The firm also purchased soft drinks business Clearly Drinks earlier this year. Supreme confirmed it was in discussions to buy Typhoo last week and announced today it had completed a rescue deal.

Supreme said in a statement: "Supreme is pleased to announce the acquisition of the trade and selected assets of Typhoo Tea Limited for a total cash consideration of £10.2million out of administration. The deal includes Typhoo Tea’s stock and trade debtors with a book value of £7.5million."

Sandy Chadha, chief executive of Supreme, said: “The acquisition of Typhoo Tea marks a significant step in our broader diversification strategy and brings one of the most iconic UK consumer brands into the Supreme family. I believe Typhoo Tea will thrive under our ownership, further benefiting from Supreme’s significant market reach and successful track record in creating brand loyalty, making us an ideal fit for this business.

“Having established our soft drinks division earlier in the year, we believe the addition of Typhoo Tea and its highly complementary blend of great value and premium tea brands, creates tangible cross sell and product innovation opportunities in the near-term, alongside avenues into credible UK retailers that Supreme has been looking to partner with.”

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