200 jobs at risk as 120 year-old firm collapses

Melton Mowbray insulation company Hodgson & Hodgson Group has gone into administration, putting around 200 jobs at risk.

FRP Advisory were appointed administrators of the company on Friday.

In the firm’s last available accounts for the year ending 31 March 2015, the firm posted a profit of £174,561 – up from a loss of £226,788 in 2014. At the time the firm employed 207.

Hodgson & Hodgson has been trading since 1890. It was first incorporated in 1915 under the ownership of brothers William and Arthur Hodgson in Nottingham. After the deaths of the founders, the company was owned and managed through a family trust up until the mid 1970s, when it was subject to a management buy-out.

By the late 1970s Hodgson & Hodgson had become one of the leading thermal insulation fabricators and had a thriving contract installation operation. Under the ‘Thermos’ brand name, which they still own UK rights to today, the company manufactured cylinder jackets. They also supplied component insulation packages to the white goods, automotive and railway industries.

In 1993 the Company was subject to a buy-in by three of the directors at the time, all of whom had worked for many years with a major mineral fibre supplier.

In July 2015 the holding company was acquired by two of the Company’s Directors, together with investment firm Wrogel Management.