A family-owned online supplier of natural and organic cosmetic and skincare ingredients has ceased trading and been placed in administration.
Christopher Horner and Kevin Pinkerton, of restructuring and insolvency practice Business Rescue Expert, have been appointed joint administrators of Aromantic.
The £1.1m-turnover business, based on the Greshop Industrial Estate in Forres, traded via its own website and online platforms such as Amazon and Shopify, supplying oils, fragrances and other ingredients to customers creating their own creams, lotions, balms, toiletries, spa products and more.
Its customer base included home crafters, salon owners and beauty therapists.
The company was founded in 1997 by Kolbjorn Borseth, who later handed over the reins to his son Benjamin.
The joint administrators have secured the sale to an unrelated party of the company’s assets, including its stock, websites and online platforms.
According to a statement issued to the media yesterday, all 11 employees were made redundant immediately before the administration.
Mr Pinkerton said Aromantic had traded well during the pandemic but sales declined afterwards.
“The fall in revenue, combined with increasing raw material, shipping and employment costs, contributed to the business becoming insolvent,” he said.
“Aromantic took out short-term loans to keep afloat, but the repayment requirements had a material effect on its cash flow.
“Over the summer, the company sought our assistance to explore ways to keep the business going. Working with the director, we tried every avenue to enable Aromantic to continue trading or sell it as a going concern, but regrettably a formal insolvency process was the only option.”
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