A PASTA company has gone into administration leaving 169 people jobless.

Pasta Reale, based in Crawley, suffered a gradual loss of customers over the past year with managers forced to put it into administration yesterday.

The firm manufactured fresh pasta and filled pasta from its headquarters on Fleming Way, near Gatwick Airport.

BDO LLP business restructuring partners were appointed joint administrators.

Matthew Tait and Kim Rayment The Company, based in Crawley, West Sussex, was a manufacturer of fresh pasta and filled pasta products.

The Company has ceased to trade and, regrettably, it has been necessary to make 169 employees redundant.

The Joint Administrators are currently seeking a purchaser for the facilities and assets of the Company.

Matthew Tait, BDO business restructuring partner, said: "The Company experienced a gradual loss of custom over the past year and, as a result, has experienced a deterioration in its working capital position.

“Despite the best efforts of the Company's directors and stakeholders in the past months, the directors were left with no option but to place the Company into administration.

“Going forward, we will seek to achieve a sale of the Company's facilities and assets and maximise recoveries for creditors."