Cimandis almost saved by potential buyer

Food service provider Cimandis’s Guernsey operations came close to being saved by a potential buyer, it has emerged.

After that fell through, “extremely difficult trading conditions” made their operations across the Channel Islands “unsustainable”, impacting nearly 40 staff , its Managing Director told Express.

The company announced their Jersey branch would be shutting down at the end of July 2025, also due to challenging economic conditions. 

At the time, Express learned that the company’s premises in Guernsey was up for sale, and the lease on its Pitronnerie Road base was set to expire on 24 December 2025.

Despite the challenges in Jersey, the company had said earlier this month that it was committed to securing its future in Guernsey, with Cimandis’ Managing Director, Nigel Holliday, at the time telling Express they were “doing everything possible to safeguard the Guernsey business” and they were “optimistic about its future”.

The company confirmed their “heartbreaking” decision earlier this week. 

Speaking to Express about the reasons for that previous optimism, and why it didn’t come to fruition, Cimandis MD Nigel Holliday explained: “Both businesses were subject to very challenging trading conditions and in our efforts to secure a sustainable future for the business in Guernsey we were engaged at that point in discussions with a potential buyer.

“However, unfortunately those discussions very recently fell through, leaving us with no other alternative other than to close our operations in Guernsey too,” he explained. 

“This was an incredibly difficult decision, one which saddens us very much and which we did not take at all lightly.” 

He added that the closure is down to trading conditions, and not the performance of staff members: “This is not a reflection on our teams’ performance, but rather the result of the extremely difficult trading conditions which have left our operations in the Channel Islands unsustainable.”

It wasn’t just a case of increasing challenges facing the companies operations, but increases in rent jumped by almost a fifth: “Cimandis has struggled with extremely difficult trading conditions over the last few years, because of the unique logistical challenges and high expenses involved in operating in the Channel Islands. 

“However, these have been exacerbated over the last year with significant increases in rent of around 18%, as well rises in general inflation, shipping costs and wages.”

Express asked Mr Holliday how many employees would be impacted and facing redundancy.

“Regretfully, there could be up to 39 redundancies. However, our priority is to work closely with recruitment agencies and other local employers to help affected team members in finding new roles and support them through this very difficult period.

“This was an incredibly difficult decision, one which saddens us very much and which we did not take at all lightly. This is not a reflection on our teams’ performance, but rather the result of the extremely difficult trading conditions which have left our operations in the Channel Islands unsustainable.”