Nearly 200 jobs have been lost after a health and beauty manufacturer went into administration last week.

DDD Ltd, based in Rickmansworth Road, Watford, was placed into administration on Friday - with employees notified on the same day, the Observer understands.

Both Dendron, based in Watford Business Park, and Fleet Laboratories, also based in Rickmansworth Road, are trading divisions of DDD.

DDD owns a number of brands including Astral, Dentinox, and Snufflebabe.

Administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) says 180 employees have been made redundant, with 111 being retained to support the joint administrators in their strategy.

It says the joint administrators Mike Denny and Rob Lewis are undertaking a period of limited continued trading while seeking to achieve a sale of the business and assets.

The family-owned business was founded in 1912. It develops, manufactures, and distributes a range of healthcare, beauty, and pharmaceutical products both locally and internationally.

Watford Observer:

Dendron office in Caxton Way, Watford Business Park

Joint administrator Mr Denny said: "DDD is a business with significant heritage that has struggled from a combination of internal and external factors over recent years.

"Given trading losses and an increasingly fragile cash position, the directors had been seeking investment into the business. That process was unsuccessful, and the directors had no option but to seek the appointment of administrators.

"Regrettably, it has been necessary to make a number of employees redundant. We will ensure that all possible support is made available to them at this difficult time.

"We continue to trade the business in the short term, whilst progressing a sale of the business. We would encourage any interested parties to get in contact."

According to its latest financial statement on Companies House, DDD Ltd reported a profit of £536,000 in 2018 versus a loss of £3.29 million for 2017.

The strategic report for the year ending December 2018, written by director Carl Atkinson, who took up a director role in November 2017, added that 2016 and 2017 saw DDD make "significant losses" but through a series of "decisive actions" the company returned to profit in 2018.