All jobs have been lost at a Scottish textile company that entered administration after more than five decades in business. Lanfine Limited, trading as the Honesty Works, ceased trading in July and has now published documents detailing the events leading to its collapse.
Company history and operations
The Darvel-based firm was originally established in 1973. It supplied soft furnishings, including towels, bed linens and fabrics, to some of the UK's biggest department stores such as John Lewis and Laura Ashley.
The company historically traded from its leasehold premises at 3-5 Campbell Street, Darvel. In recent years, however, manufacturing activities had been sub-contracted to overseas mills located primarily in Pakistan.
Administration and redundancies
Following "trading challenges" and "reported losses", the Ayrshire-based firm appointed Michelle Elliot and Callum Carmichael, of FRP Advisory, as joint administrators on July 10, 2026. All 19 employees were subsequently made redundant.
The administrators' report on Companies House attributed the losses to "deteriorating demand" for products from key suppliers, alongside "increasing costs" on material stock, manufacturing and shipping. Overall, the firm is said to owe over £1.5 million to creditors.
Debt breakdown
The documents outline that the total debt owed to HSBC Invoice Finance is £344,420.25. Administrators said: "It is anticipated that HSBC IF will receive full repayment in relation to their secured."
Meanwhile, the total secured debt to HSBC is £652,024.93. Administrators have advised that recoveries to the firm are currently "uncertain at this stage."
Debts owed to preferential creditors total £26,965.56, relating to "arrears of pay, unpaid pension contributions and holiday pay as calculated in accordance with legislation". It is anticipated that preferential creditors "may receive a distribution."
Furthermore, the estimated secured debt owed to secondary preferential creditors is £615,467.64 and it is anticipated they will receive a "partial contribution". Administrators have also received claims totalling £50,604.91 from unsecured creditors.
The reports added that "it is currently estimated that there will not be sufficient funds available to make a distribution to unsecured creditors."
Administrators' comments and impact
Administrators at FRP Advisory wrote: "The Company had been experiencing trading challenges for a number of years and reported losses in each year since FY23, primarily as a result of deteriorating demand for products from key customers combined with increasing costs of raw material stock, manufacturing and shipping.
"This Company reported losses of c.£450k in FY25 and, whilst the business appeared to reduce the deficit in FY26, the Company remained loss making."
After ceasing trading at the start of July, all 19 employees were made redundant immediately following the administrators' appointment. FRP's team are now "engaging with and supporting the employees in relation to the submission of their claims to the Redundancy Payments office."
It's just the latest business located in Scotland to struggle recently, as GlenWyvis Distillery, which is the "world's first community-owned whisky distillery", plunged into administration recently. Geoffrey Isaac Jacobs and Alistair McAlinden of Interpath Limited were appointed as joint administrators on October 5, 2026. As a result, all three members of staff were immediately made redundant.
Meanwhile, Calcivis Limited also fell into administration. The pioneering dental firm, headquartered in Edinburgh, boasted patented technology to prevent cavities and tooth decay, but was "unable to scale its commercialisation to build a sustainable business."
