Details of Oddbins debts emerge

As Oddbins’ creditors prepare to vote on whether to accept the stricken off-licence operator’s Company Voluntary Arrangement proposal next week, details of the scale of the company’s debts and the companies they owe money to have begun to emerge.

A huge number of wine companies, utility companies, law firms and individuals are owed money by Oddbins, with the largest creditor being HM Revenue & Customs, which is owed over £8.6 million.

EDF Energy is owed £51,389, while retailer Halfords is owed £173,545 and software firm Gemma SPA is owed £145,800.

Hatch Mansfield is owed £309,735 – the largest sum of any wine firm on the creditor list – Chilean wine company Concha y Toro is owed £241,583, while Château Maison Lauduc Grandeau is owed £152,845.

Mentzendorff is owed £161,567; De Bortoli wines is listed as being owed £106,789; Negociants International is owed £90,153; Laurent Perrier UK is owed £89,091; Lombard & Medot is owed £87,516; Pernod Ricard is owed £89,647 and Pol Roger is owed £273,611.

The creditors meeting will take place on 31 March in London, with a 75% approval rate required to push the CVA through.

Though the wine trade is generally supportive of the proposals, and is keen to see the Oddbins brand survive and avoid administration, much will rest on the vote of HMRC.

Under the CVA proposals, creditors will receive 21 pence for every pound they are owed. However, should Oddbins end up in administration, this figure could be as low as 13p.

Alan Lodge, 21.03.2011