Top 10 stories of 2015: 8 Hundreds of jobs on the line as construction firm goes into administration
UP TO 350 jobs are at risk after civil engineering company Hewlett appointed administrators for the second time in little more than two years.
John Russell and Ashleigh Fletcher of The P & A Partnership and in a statement said “the administration is still in its early stages, with the position of the company currently being assessed”.
Workers at the Leeds-based company, Hewlett Construction, are understood to have been sent home on Tuesday.
The company’s website claims a workforce of 350 although administrators say it has 141 staff, with the difference made up of self-employed contract workers.
Hewlett’s staff are spread between its Leeds head office, regional offices in Leamington Spa and Perth and an Middle East base in Muscat, Oman. It splits its operating divisions into power and process, renewables, highways, rail and residential infrastructure.
Its projects have included installing a wind turbine at Cross Green Industrial Estate, Leeds, and the Carr Lodge Spine Road in Doncaster.
It is the second Hewlett company to appoint administrators in 28 months.
Hewlett Civil Engineering, which had been trading since 1987, collapsed in January 2013 owing trade creditors £11.6m. Managing director Alan Cooper created Hewlett Construction to buy the assets and continue trading.
Hewlett Construction has published two sets of accounts, for the six months to July 2013 and the eight months to March 2014, which showed post-tax profits of £12,726 and £177,742. Combined sales for the 14-month period was £24.7m.
The company has also previously announced a pre-tax profit of £795,000 on revenues of £23.3m for the half-year to September 2014, and in December forecast annual sales would reach £43.5m and generate a pre-tax profit of £1.05m for the 12 months ending March 2015.
Speaking in December, managing director Alan Cooper said: “We took advantage of the ‘green shoots’ of recovery coming last year and decided it was time to look at how we were going to grow the business while trying to control the overheads and maximise turnover.
“In under two years the company has delivered continued profitability with all the signs for a promising future ahead. The aim now is for a modest level of expansion as there’s still little room for complacency about the economy. However the continuing levels of new business offer much encouragement and will give the business the stable platform it needs to continue to grow.”
BDO, who were the administrators appointed to Hewlett Civil Engineering, are not involved in the current administration.
However a BDO spokesperson issued a statement clarifying the position and said: “The joint liquidators are currently in the process of concluding the liquidation of Hewlett Civil Engineering Limited, the business and assets of which were sold to Hewlett Construction Limited in January 2013.”
“The Joint Liquidators are seeking to finalise the on-going liquidation of Hewlett Civil Engineering Limited as quickly as possible and will be in a position to pay a small dividend to the unsecured creditors of Hewlett Civil Engineering Limited shortly.”
