UK: Halal poultry supplier Gafoor sold

A £52m-turnover poultry supplier due to celebrate a half century in business in 2014 has been bought out of administration.

Preston-based Gafoor Poultry Products was founded in 1964 and is owned by the Patel family, 

It has been bought by Gafoor Pure Halal, registered to an address in Leicester and whose sole director is listed as Ozayr Patel on Companies House.

In the year to November 2010, Gafoor Poultry Products posted a pre-tax profit of £1.48m on turnover of £52.4m, employing 138 staff.

This was a significant increase on its 2008 sales of £36.5m but it also recorded a pre-tax loss of £1.08m in that year.

In 2005, it moved to a custom designed and built plant which it said was now capable of processing one million birds per week.

Administrators from Irwin & Company in Sutton Coldfield were appointed to Gafoor Poultry Products at the end of July and a meeting of creditors is due to take place on 24 August.

Gafoor sold in pre-pack administration sale

By Nicholas Robinson

Gafoor Poultry Products, one of the country’s largest halal meat suppliers, has been sold in a pre-pack administration sale, safeguarding around 150 jobs.

Administrator Gerald Irwin of Irwin Insolvency was appointed to handle Gafoor at the High Court in Birmingham on 31 July.

Irwin said the Preston-based company’s assets were sold to a new company, Gafoor Pure Halal, which is owned by a family member who also controlled the original company. Irwin said: “The business encountered some trading difficulties and also some bad debts. Sales had reduced in the last year as a consequence. The good news is that we have been able to preserve all 150 jobs on the site.”

Recent accounts filed by Gafoor in January for the year ending October 2010 showed profits of £1.4m and a turnover of more than £52.4m.

The poultry processor handles around 450,000 birds each week and supplies both the wholesale and retail sectors throughout the UK.