Rescue deal keeps 100 jobs secure
AROUND 100 jobs at a security firm Secure Options in Oldham have been saved after administrators MCR agreed a deal to sell the business.
The company, which was placed into administration on April 21 with Steve Clancy and David Whitehouse from the Manchester office of MCR appointed as joint administrators, has been sold to industry chief Julian Nicholls.
Mr Nicholls, who has been backed by a couple of high net-worth investors, was previously group managing director of Reliance Security. He said that he plans to retain all of the company’s existing staff including founder Mike Braddock and intends to inject capital to allow the business to resume its service with as little disruption as possible.
“There are some fantastic people working in this business and I’m very confident about it,” he said. “The security industry is throwing up some huge opportunities – particularly in electronic businesses.
“Secure Options has some good intellectual prioperty assets that sets it apart from its competitors.”
The company manufactures and installs a range of security equipment including automatic number plate recognition cameras. Iut also has a control centre at Royton where it undertakes remote monitoring of sites for clients.
It was founded by Mr Braddock in 1990 and enjoyed several years of rapid growth, with turnover hitting £15m in the year toi March 31, 2008. Braddock had begun to gear up after setting his sights on doubling turnover to £30m, but Clancy said that as the financial crisis hit many customers delayed or cancelled large orders. As a result, its turnover dropped back to around £7m.
Clancy said: ”The company had started to restructure but hadn’t got to a situation where its costs were in line with these lower revenues, which led to our appointment.
Despite this, he added that it attracted interest from around 60 potential trade
buyers.
Nicholls said that keeping the existing team together and establishing a continuity of service to Secure Options’ existing customer base was “top of our list of priorities”.
“In the coming months Mike Braddock and I will be putting together our business plan for the development of the company,” he added.
