Deadline set for sale of Welcome to Yorkshire tourism agency

Administrators have set a deadline of 4pm on Monday March 28th for bids to acquire the business and assets of tourism agency Welcome to Yorkshire. The company, which was put into administration in early March after the council withdrew funding, is currently being sold as a whole by administrators Armstrong Watson LLP.

If a buyer is not found to acquire the business outright by the deadline, its assets will be sold individually through an online auction carried out by BPI Asset Advisory RICS. Welcome to Yorkshire’s assets include more than 150 domain names, trademarks and patents.

Some of its most valuable assets include “Y Magazine”, the White Rose tourism awards and rare domain names such as www.yorkshire.com and www.letour.yorkshire.com. The administrators say they expect high levels of interest, both in the business as a going concern and for individual assets, while council leaders have expressed interest in acquiring the Welcome to Yorkshire brand name.

In its most recent available accounts, for the 6-month period ending March 31 2020, Welcome to Yorkshire’s fixed assets were valued at slightly over £1 million, while current assets stood at £962,052. At the time, total assets less liabilities were valued at £1.05 million.

Those accounts show that the agency generated turnover of £1.6 million in the six months to March 31 2020, while its losses for the period stood at £121,140, compared to a £71,857 loss in the 18 months to September 30 2019.

Welcome to Yorkshire was placed into administration at the beginning of the month, amid a reported £1.4 million funding gap resulting from the impact of COVID-19. The agency’s chairman said that it had faced an “incredibly difficult” three years and had run out of funding options.

Joint administrator Rob Adamson of Armstrong Watson said: “We continue to seek a buyer for the Welcome to Yorkshire business following our appointment as administrators on 1st March 2022. We’re keen to hear from any interested parties in the purchase of the business as a whole, or its individual assets, including the iconic www.yorkshire.com domain name, so synonymous with this beautiful region.”

Parties interested in acquiring the business or its assets are being encouraged to contact [email protected]

BPI asset advisory director and RICS valuer Andrew Cromack commented: We are seeing significant interest in the business as a going concern from the travel & tourism sector as we’d expect, in addition to multiple enquiries from publishing outlets.”

“A domain such as www.yorkshire.com coming to market will always cause a stir due to its rarity. From existing Yorkshire businesses or those expanding into the region, brands looking for campaign domains or simply proud Yorkshire bidders, we expect high levels of interest.”



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