NEARLY 200 farmers and unsecured creditors owed more than £7 million after the collapse of online butcher Farmison and Co have been told they are not set to get any money back despite a rescue deal led by the former boss of Asda.

A report from administrators FRP Advisory revealed 199 unsecured creditors – including trade suppliers and around a dozen rare breeds meat farmers – were left £7.3 million out of pocket when Farmison went bust in April.

The report confirmed their fears that they will not be able to recoup any of the cash owed to them by the failed firm, estimating there will not be enough funds to make any payouts to unsecured creditors.

North Yorkshire-based Farmison – which counts the likes of Harrods and Fortnum and Mason among its customers – collapsed on April 6, leading to job losses among staff at its production site in Ripon and leaving suppliers with hefty unpaid invoices.

The firm was bought less than three weeks later by a group of investors led by ex-Asda chief executive Andy Clarke, which has since restarted trading at the premium butcher.

Mr Clarke teamed up for the deal with branding experts Chilli Marketing and its former founder and managing director, Gareth Whittle, who was also a board member of Farmison before it went into administration.

Farmison’s failure left many of the farmers facing severe cashflow problems and with meat and herds they have struggled to sell elsewhere.

Many of its farmer suppliers have been left being owed thousands, with some more than £70,000 out of pocket.

The group also employed around 75 staff in Ripon, most of whom were made redundant when FRP was appointed as administrator.

Its workforce was owed around £86,000 in salary, holiday pay and pension benefits, but the administrator’s report shows they are only set to get 31p in the pound back.

However, the administrators are helping affected staff to make claims through the Redundancy Payments Service.

The new owners of Farmison said they have since signed up the majority of its farmers to continue supplying meat and re-hired more than 40 of the workers let go, with aims to get more than 50 former staff back on board after restarting the business.

But some of the farmers are furious after being left with substantial unpaid invoices, while others said they had already stopped supplying the company some months before it went bust due to unpaid invoices.