Notts manufacturer keeps on truckin’ after being sold out of administration

A Nottinghamshire firm which manufactures truck plant bodies called in administrators having made a loss of has been sold out of administration for £350,000, documents seen by TheBusinessDesk.com reveal.

Shawtrack Services called in administrators from Revive Business Recovery on August 2.

Documents released by the administrator show that the firm’s troubles go back almost a decade to a period after 2014 when demand for its services dropped which resulted sales staff leaving the firm to work for a competitor.

The forthcoming Brexit vote did nothing to help Shawtrack, with orders cancelled or placed on hold and further staff departures which weren’t replaced.

However, after the Brexit vote in 2016, most of these cancelled orders were resumed – but the company found that it didn’t have the staff to complete them.

Covid saw 50% of Shawtrack’s staff placed on furlough. Sales at the time were not enough to cover overheads and the additional regulation to imports brought about by Brexit brought significant delays to vehicles being delivered to the company.

Despite these myriad problems, Shawtrack remained profitable until the last couple of years. The directors had pumped their own cash into the firm as an when required.

However, in 2022, they decided to put the firm up for sale. Despite talks with a number of parties, they weren’t able to secure a buyer – and cash was beginning to run out. Added to this, Shawtrack was also in arrears with HMRC, which had visited its offices.

According to Companies House, founder James Shaw-Browne and fellow director Carol Ann Shaw Browne stepped down as directors on the Tuesday 4 July and Wednesday 5 July.

Revive put the business up for sale and it was bought by Lexen Adey of STS (Clipstone) – an unconnected party to the previous business – for £350,000.

Despite the sale, unsecured creditors of the previous company look set to miss out on almost £471,000 owed to them.