Member Article

Manchester post-production house Sumners up for sale

Manchester-based business recovery business, The Business Debt Advisor, has been appointed to advise the directors and shareholders of Sumner’s Media City Limited (SMCL), the TV post production company based at MediaCityUK in Salford.

SMCL is a post production facility trading out of The Pie Factory at MediaCityUK. Founded by husband and wife team, Andy and Janet Sumner, the company was incorporated in 2007.

It began trading in 2013 following the winding down of Andrew Sumner & Associates Ltd (Sumners) which was founded in 1992 and, over 20 years of trading, became one of the largest post production companies outside of London with a turnover of £4.5M.

Sumners faced a steady decline due to increased competition following the relocation of the BBC to MediaCityUK.

A Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) was agreed for Sumners in December 2012 which was resulted in a £17K surplus and equipment for creditors.

Bev Budsworth, managing director of The Business Debt Advisor explained: “SMCL acquired the majority of the equipment and set-up operations at The Pie Factory. However, higher than expected set-up costs and delays, meant that the company had to fund overheads with no significant income for three months.

“Turnover for the first year of trading was £800K, with the business making a loss of £30K, which was actually really good, given the circumstances. However, this year has seen income decline due mainly to increased competition and the slow drift of Manchester post production work back to London.”

On Thursday 31 July, all of the company’s eleven staff were made redundant. The Business Debt Advisor has been appointed to work with the directors and agents to achieve a sale of the boutique post production facilities at The Pie Factory.

Bev Budsworth added: “The Sumners name has been largely synonymous with the post production sector in the North West over the last 25 years.

“Unfortunately, Sumners seems to have been a victim of funding issues and ultimately stricter invoice discounting terms made it impossible to continue trading. Even more unfortunate is the fact that eleven staff have lost their jobs as a result.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .