127 Hewden cranes to be auctioned off

THE administrators of collapsed crane hire firm Hewden are auctioning off the company’s remaining assets, including 127 cranes, after failing to find a buyer for the fleet.

Joint administrators Sam Woodward and Colin Dempster of EY have appointed equipment and machinery auction house Euro Auctions to dispose of the assets of HS Realisations Ltd, previously known as Hewden Stuart Ltd, which was headquartered in Stretford, Greater Manchester.

Euro Auctions will sell 127 mixed cranes and pieces of lifting equipment later this month, although a date is still to be confirmed.

A second phase will see the disposal of thousands of items of general construction equipment including excavators, dumpers, rollers, telehandlers at a series of unreserved auctions at Hewden depots across the UK to be conducted over a four month period.

David Betts of Euro Auctions said; “All the equipment going under the hammer has been exceptionally well maintained and we expect real interest as it’s all being offered without reserve so buyers could pick up some real quality bargains.”

Hewden went into administration in November, with the loss of 251 jobs.

Its last set of accounts were filed a year ago and cover the financial year to the end of December 2014, for which it reported a £16.6m loss but the cash -strapped firm blamed Brexit uncertainty for its financial predicament.

At the time of his appointment as joint administrator Sam Woodward of EY said: “Management has been attempting to operationally reshape the business to focus on higher margin and quicker returning assets and services.

“However, this has proven challenging with the group’s capital structure and the recent trading environment.

“Management recently undertook a number of initiatives including approaching new funders and potential acquirers to recapitalise the business, but unfortunately these efforts proved unsuccessful.”

Three divisions of the group were immediately sold to Ashtead Plant Hire Company for £29m, with 133 employees transferring across.

In December, Cheshire-based plant hire specialist Ashbrook Plant acquired two depots previously owned by Hewden in Warrington and Bangor, North Wales. The new business will be called Ashbrook (Warrington) and Ashbrook (Bangor) respectively, based at the same locations previously operated by Hewden.

The sale of further sites is expected to be announced in the next few weeks.