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Humberts has quietly announced that insolvency practice Begbies Traynor has been appointed to deal with the administration of the company.
The announcement is hidden at the bottom of its website, which otherwise makes the company look at if it’s continuing as usual including an invitation to ‘book a valuation’ and ‘choose Humberts’.
It also says that Paul Stanley and Paul Barber of Begbies Traynor are the appointed administrators.
Humberts’ website was initially taken down and replaced with a ‘maintenance’ message that directed customers with queries to a bogus phone number and non-existent email address but has now been reinstated.
The Negotiator has been told that the company has a major problem on its hands because although the Humberts UK Ltd is going into administration, several of its franchised branches are continuing to trade independently of the central business.
This includes those in Stamford and Nottingham in the East Midlands.
Business rescue
But there may be hope for Humberts yet. Both Paul Stanley and Paul Barber are ‘business rescue and recovery’ specialists based at the Manchester office of Begbies Traynor and, therefore, are likely to be looking for a white knight to buy the business.
Latest accounts for the Wilmslow-based agency for 2018 show that it was running a £283,000 overdraft at one point and, although it was owed £387,700, it had debts totalling £970,700 due this year.
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