Not even the humble fishfinger can find a hiding place from the economic crisis.

A Newcastle-based factory that produces food under licence for Findus, famed for its fishfingers and Crispy Pancakes, called in administrators yesterday. The collapse of the company has jeopardised the jobs of 430 employees.

Sales of frozen food have been in decline for years as the fashion for chilled foods and home-cooking has gathered pace, but the downturn has lifted sales as consumers seek cheap alternatives to eating out.

The Findus factory at Longbenton, owned by Newcastle Production, had been lossmaking for several years but was struck a fatal blow when Landsbanki, its lender, collapsed in the Icelandic banking crisis.

It failed to find alternative financing, despite recently winning a contract to supply frozen food to Scandinavia, and yesterday called in Zolfo Cooper, the restructuring specialist formerly owned by Kroll, which is seeking to find a buyer for the business.

Newcastle Production produces a range of ready meals under the name of Jean-Christophe Novelli, the celebrity chef. It also makes traditional English meals, such as toad in the hole, as well as Findus's well-known products.

Nick Cropper, a joint administrator and partner at Zolfo Cooper, said: “We remain confident that there will be interest from potential buyers to secure the future of this business and will need the support of all parties to achieve this.”

The factory lost £937,000 last year despite sales increasing by 19 per cent. Newcastle Production is owned by Geir Frantzen, a former Findus executive, who bought it from a Swedish private equity firm in 2005. Findus is owned by Lion Capital, the private equity firm, which bought Foodvest, owner of Findus, Young's and The Seafood Company, for £1.1 billion last summer.

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