Garden furniture business Staffordshire Outbuildings has been sold in a pre-pack deal to a connected company after being placed into administration.
Emma Mifsud and Mark Ranson, both of Opus Restructuring LLP, were appointed as joint administrators of Staffordshire Outbuildings Limited on 6 February 2026.
In the build up to entering administration, Staffordshire Outbuildings, which traded through a number of online merchant platforms including Amazon, Etsy and eBay, as well as its own website, faced cashflow challenges due to its main platform’s trading model.
The administrators report said: “As a result of reduced cash flow and accounting errors, which meant the VAT returns went unfiled and penalties incurred as a result, the company started to experience cash flow issues.
“Although the Company traded primarily on Amazon as its main platform it faced challenges due to Amazon withholding funds regularly due to its trading model and the requirement to hold back a percentage of the Company’s revenue to cover potential returns.
“This affected cashflow making it difficult to manage trading at peak times. In August 2025 Amazon froze the Company’s account after it is thought that HMRC wrote to them regarding the Company not meeting its VAT filing obligations. As a result, customer orders went unfulfilled and a substantial amount was withheld by Amazon for a delayed period of time.”
The withholding of funds by Amazon left the Company unable to meets its immediate financial obligations, including the weekly payroll for its 16 employees. As a result, the director took the decision to temporarily continue trading through an associated company, Staffordshire Outdoor Furniture Limited – which was incorporated in August 2025.
This enabled the business to order the timber stock required to fulfil orders across the manufactured price of goods and also provided funds to meet the Company’s payroll in September and October 2025.
However, it was at this point it is understood that the director took a step back from the trading of the business, particularly due to health reasons. Following a review, Opus deemed the company as insolvent.
Upon the appointment of administrators, the company’s business and assets were sold in a pre-pack deal for a total sum of £15,000 to connected company Staffordshire Outdoor Furniture Limited (SOFL). The Company and SOFL are connected parties by virtue of the directors and shareholders of SOFL (Kyle and Lloyd Gavaghan) being the sons of the Company’s director and sole shareholder, Anthony Gavaghan.
With regards to creditors, preferential creditor, the HMRC, is owed £402,000, while unsecured creditors are owed a combined sum of £340,000. These include a further £246,000 owed to the HMRC and £40,000 owed to its landlord. It is expected that creditors will suffer a shortfall of £664,000.
