Failed stock from a Chinese partner put pressure on furniture business B Womack Furniture ahead of entering administration.
Andrew Ryder, of JT Maxwell Limited, was appointed as administrator of B Womack Furniture Ltd on 1 August 2025.
In the build up to the appointment, in late 2024 the Director, Ben Womack, was approached by an American company and Chinese company who were interested in investing in the business and potentially purchasing company shares.
Following numerous meetings, the Director chose to partner with the Chinese company. There was an agreement that the Director would attend a large number of trade shows and seek to increase the number of orders exponentially.
The Director spent in excess of £100,000 attending the trade shows and managed to secure a significant number of orders. The relevant stock orders were placed with the Chinese company to be delivered by February 2025.
Only a small amount of stock arrived by March and most were defective, meaning orders could not be completed. The remaining stock failed to arrive in time and in April 2025 customers began cancelling their orders.
Not being able to fulfil the orders had a significant effect on turnover and resulted in the company having to explore its financial options ultimately resulting in administration.
Following discussions with JT Maxwell, it was agreed that a pre-packaged sale of the business out of administration was the only viable option available to enable a sale of the business as a going concern and to and provide a better return for creditors.
The company was marketed for sale during July 2025 and was subsequently sold to BCW International Ltd, a newco under common ownership, as part of a pre-pack deal.
BCW International Ltd, which was incorporated on 25 July 2025 with the named director being Ben Womack, put forward an offer of £150,000 for the business, which included office furniture, equipment, stock, the goodwill and Intellectual Property.
It was advised this would be the best offer and was accepted by administrators. The sale was completed on 4 August 2025, with funds being received in full on 8 August 2025.
With regards to creditors, preferential creditor, the HMRC is owed £274,000, which is expected to be repaid in part following the sale proceeds. Unsecured creditors are owed a combined sum of £3.7m, with £2.7m owed to Bengbu Dingmei Leisure Products Co., Ltd.
Other claims include two other Chinese companies, owed a combined figure of £500,000, as well as a logistics firm, owed £322,000. It is expected that creditors will suffer a total shortfall of £3.8m.
