Excel Publishing in administration

INDEPENDENT regional publisher Excel has gone into administration.

Andrew Poxon and John Titley of Leonard Curtis were appointed as joint administrators on Tuesday.

The business and construction sector publisher was founded by current managing director Pat Rafter with Martin Raegan in 1991.

Rafter took full control of the company after buying out Regan, and company chairman Pat Quinn in 2013.

It employs 46 staff at its office on Portland Street in Manchester city centre, who were still in the office late on Thursday afternoon, although the company website was taken offline around midday.

One manager, who did not want to give his name, told TheBusinessDesk: “We don’t know what’s going on. We have been told diddly-squat.”

The company’s size means it is exempt from filing full accounts to Companies House but the most recent abbreviated and unaudited accounts available show the company made a loss of £66,000 for the year to the end of December 2015.

In notes about it being a going concern, the accounts state that the company’s liabilities exceeded its assets by around £548,500.

“The company relies on the financial support of certain creditors,” it was added.

TheBusinessDesk has contacted both Excel management and administrators at Leonard Curtis for comment.