Engineering firm calls in administrators

A SOUTHPORT-based engineering firm with a 65-year trading history has been placed into administration.

Metals fabricator Garrick Engineering appointed John Titley and Andrew Poxon of Bury-based insolvency firm Leonard Curtis last month.

The firm, which employed around 50 people at its 30,000 sq ft base on Crowland Street in Southport, was a subcontractor making sheet metal products to the aerospace, automotive, pharmaceutical and transport sectors.

The company had been owned by the Smith family and was chaired by director Peter Smith-Crellan.

In recent years, it had made a number of investments including the installation of high-speed laser cutting equipment. In its last full year of trading to September 30, 2009, it made a pre-tax profit of £108,020 on sales of more than £2.8m. Accounts also show that it finished the period with net assets of almost £1.5m.

The administrators were contacted, but did not respond to requests for comment.