Wed, 14 May 2025 | ADMINISTRATION
A buyer is being sought to enable a collapsed West Midlands pottery business to restart production before it becomes necessary to sell the company’s assets at auction. Stoke-on-Trent-based W. Moorcroft Limited collapsed and ceased trading in April 2025.
Moore Recovery were hired to assist in placing the business into voluntary liquidation, with John Pye Auctions subsequently appointed to sell the company’s assets. However, the companies are now working to find a buyer for the business before an asset sale at auction.
Gary Harper, machinery and business asset valuer at John Pye Auctions, said: "All assets of the Moorcroft business are available to potential buyers including both tangible and intangible to include freehold and leasehold premises, office furniture, IT and business machines, plant machinery and equipment, stocks to include retail trial and master pottery art pieces, the company name, domain name and website, trademarks, social media accounts, customer and supplier details, as well as historic records.”
Harper said that the sale process represented “a rare opportunity to secure a unique manufacturing and retail business with a varied customer base that is well known and loved by collectors worldwide."
He added: "We hope again to be able to achieve a sale of the business assets as a collection to a new owner operator who will reemploy former staff members, as achieved earlier this year in the case of the tableware business, Royal Stafford Pottery, also based in the Potteries."
In accounts for the year to August 31 2023, W. Moorcroft Limited reported turnover of approximately £2.3 million, up marginally from £2.2 million a year earlier, but saw its post-tax profits dip from around £218,000 to £115,000.
At the time, its fixed assets were valued at around £780,000 and current assets at £1.5 million, with net assets also amounting to £1.5 million.
W. Moorcroft dated back to the late 19th century and was known for handmade, fine art pottery pieces. The company had an extremely prestigious client list, including Harrods, Liberty of London, New York’s Tiffany & Co and San Francisco jewelers Shreve & Co.
The company also had a longstanding Royal connection, having been awarded the title “Potters to HM the Queen” by Queen Mary in 1928. Following her death, this was later changed to “Potters to The Late Queen” in 1953, a title that was used until 1978. Queen Elizabeth II also reportedly regularly incorporated new Moorcroft designs into the Royal Collection.
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