A craft center in Derbyshire closed after the company, founded by Dragons’ Den star Sara Davies, went into administration.
Administrators closed the Crafter’s Companion store in Barlborough, near Chesterfield, on January 7, leaving ten people made redundant, but the Evesham base, in Worcestershire, remained open.
The company was founded by Ms Davies in 2005, while she was at university.
He said he then sold most of it but bought it back from the administrators on January 7 and is once again a major shareholder.
She said: “It is never easy to fire staff, and I understand why it has been a shock for employees, but there was no way around it.”
The businessman said: “The decision to close the loss-making Chesterfield store was taken by the administrators in preparation for the sale of the business to us.”
“The current closure occurred after we acquired the business,” he added.
Davies said the store had not traded profitably “for quite some time, and could not remain part of the Crafter’s Companion family in the future”.
GoogleThe company, which sells craft supplies, has a head office and warehouse in County Durham, a store in Evesham and the former store in Chesterfield.
She said: “I am proud that we have saved over a hundred jobs in the North, but I am very sorry that these colleagues have had to leave the family.”
Ms Davies added that as the business was rescued from administration, saving more than a hundred jobs, it was “important to ensure we focus our efforts” on the remaining store and website, “to ensure the future success of Crafter’s Companion.” ”.
He adds: “I have invested my own money in the business and, together with a new financial partner who has also invested, I am now a significant shareholder again.”
Ms Davies became the youngest Dragon to join BBC One’s Dragons’ Den and was awarded an MBE for her services to the economy in 2016.
He received an honorary degree from the University of York in 2024 in recognition of his “outstanding contribution to society.”
Crafter’s Companion Restricted’s accounts for the 2024 financial year were overdue before the company went into administration.
The most recent filed accounts show its revenue fell from £37.8m in 2022 to £29.9m in fiscal 2023, a fall of 21%.
