Derbyshire stone business brought down by Brexit
The sale of a Derbyshire natural stone business was halted because of the Brexit vote, it has emerged.
An offer to buy Realstone, based in Chesterfield, out of administration was withdrawn immediately after the vote to leave the EU on 23 June, leaving 28 people out of work as the company was wound down by administrators.
Documents seen by TheBusinessDesk.com say: “Following the outcome of the EU Referendum and concerns the proposed purchaser had raised about the knock-on impact of the ‘OUT’ vote on the construction, the proposed purchaser advised the withdrawal of their offer, and submitted a revised offer, on a different basis, involving the purchase of the company’s assets but not its business as a going concern.”
The administrators rejected this offer and began winding down the company, and its remaining 28 employees were made redundant on 30 June.
Realstone had been struggling for some years, racking up losses of £1.7m over the last six years. However, losses had been narrowing and bosses at the firm said they hope to return it to profitability this year.
The firm had been loaned over £2m by the Gregory family when it bought the family run business in a management buy-out in 2009 by a team comprising Iain Kennedy, Steve Wright, Andrew Gregory, John Thompson, Paul Bailey and John Nolan. It went into administration owing £150,000 to HMRC.
