I read with interest the news emanating about Latitude’s problems and its left me slightly confused. Their funders Barclays are believed to have lost several million pounds as a result of a pre-pack administration but the business says they are doing great, so why the call in from the bank?

Pre-Packed Administration – This means their business was sold back to its management and their existing private equity backers Vitruvian Partners, basically like a NEWCO. In my experince others also get burned here along with the banks, what happens to their suppliers??  Barclays is understood to have written off up to £5m of loans after a poor 2008 from Latitude; however the SEO firm claimed to be getting back on track last year. confused.com?

Ian Riley, managing partner of Vitruvian, said in a news release: “No jobs will be lost as a result of the deal as the new company bought the entire assets of the business out of administration”.

In another news release this same deal was described as a management buyout and did not mention the pre-pack, chief executive Alex Hoye said: “This deal secures Latitude’s ability to innovate and grow in a disruptive market. Marketing spend online surpassed TV for the first time in the UK this year – advertisers’ continued shift of expenditure to digital services provides growth opportunities for firms like Latitude in any economic environment”.

Vitruvian acquired a majority stake for £50m in December 2007 from Dylan Thwaites and his former father-in-law David Ashton, who founded Latitude in 2000. Under the founders, turnover grew from £500,000 in 2002 to more than £40.5m in 2007 when it made a pre-tax profit of just over £1.46m.

Dylan Thwaites left the business in December 2008 amid a management shake-up which saw the departure of several other top executives. Chief financial officer Julie Morgan, chief technology officer Rob Shaw and head of client services Judy Dewsbury all went. The workforce was cut by about a dozen to around 95 in 2008 after customers cut back on spending and the company posted a turnover of £58m.

According to Latitude’s website the company is still recruiting, advertising three jobs at its London office and nine in Warrington, where the majority of the staff are based.