Press Release: The GoodBox Co Administration takes another turn

Since the announcement of its administration in June 2022, it's been a tumultuous time for the UK Fintech brand, The Goodbox Co.

The troubled technology-based company allows charitable donations to be made with the simple swipe of a payment card. Founded in 2016, they successfully went on to work with many well-known charities and museums, receiving numerous accolades and awards for its payment device hardware along the way. However, despite its success, the company has been unable to make a profit. As with much of the charitable sector, it was hit hard by the pandemic, yet it managed to raise £9m in a convertible loan deal through the UK government scheme, Future Fund, in January 2021.  

Since their appointment as joint Administrators in June 2022 Frost and Wadsted have pursued multiple avenues in their attempts to save the brand's future whilst protecting the various charities, religious organisations and museums reliant on the company’s services for their donations. In this element at least the Joint Administrators are justly proud of their achievements as over £4.5m of donations have been processed in the course of their appointment.

The original purpose of this Administration was to save the Company with the expectation that a very novel procedure, a Part 26a Scheme was utilised and it can be announced, as of 16 January 2023, that the Court has now sanctioned a Part 26a scheme for the Company, a judgement that formally brings the Administration to a close.

There were many times during this appointment that the Administrators viewed this outcome, what is very positive outcome for most creditors, as representing an extremely unlikely result, so much so that they had conducted a sales process which would have at least resulted in the business’ sale protecting both jobs and customers, a strategy which enjoyed the support of the vast majority of creditors.  

The Court’s decision on the 16 January was certainly a surprise to the Administrators. The proposed restructuring details independent scheme administrators, 18 angel investors and the appointment of a new (and independent) board of directors to get the brand back on its feet.

Jeremy Frost, Director of Frost Group Ltd, commented: "We send our best wishes to the team at GoodBox Co and are hopeful that they can get back to being the essential part of the charitable industry that it once was.  There is a plan now for a funded future, however, considerable uncertainty and many questions will need to be answered in the near future.

It is very sad that these uncertainties, brought into sharp focus whilst acting as Administrator were not addressed in the scheme, a position so serious that it did not allow us to take anything other than a neutral stance."

Jeremy concluded that time would tell whether these uncertainties can be resolved.

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