Kbb News

Posted: 18/06/2010

Will William Ball bounce back?

A strategy for long term survival is in place, claims Peter Loftus.

This has not been the best of weeks for UK kitchen company William Ball Ltd. First, there was the public and acrimonious split of Terry Ball from the company founded by his father after 47 years of service, and then there were inacurate reports of the company going into receivership.

It started when Terry Ball issued a statement claiming he had been ousted. Sales and marketing director Peter Loftus responded on behalf of the board of directors to Terry Ball's comments, explaining that Terry's departure had not been a boardroom coup but part of a wider redundancy programme. Terry Ball then responded with a follow-up statement refuting some of Peter Loftus' points.

And if all this wasn't already enough, there were unsubstantiated, and as it turns out inaccurate claims that William Ball Ltd was in receivership when in fact, the company is trying to organise a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) and is due to meet its creditors on Friday 25 June.

"William Ball Ltd lost money, due to its high cost base lack of systems and its diversification into multiple sectors and markets," Peter Loftus told kbb News. "The losses meant the directors had to reduce the overheads quickly and radically.

"The strategy included making some painful decisions regarding staff numbers, which by a combination of not replacing leavers - and unfortunately some redundancies - has reduced staff level by 50 people.

"One of those who was made redundant was Terry Ball. There was no boardroom coup as has been suggested, and he received the same treatment as the other members of staff we had to let go. Terry, in common with other family members- including his son John who remains with the company - retains his shareholding in William Ball Ltd.

"And now we have to turn the company around. We have identified where we can make cuts and looked at areas where we can expect to increase business. We have cleared out slow and non moving stock and we have new products under development to launch in the autumn.

"We've applied for a CVA and have a business strategy in place that the directors are hopeful can return William Ball to profit by the end of this year - provided we have the support of our creditors and the continued support of our clients."