22 staff lose jobs as metal fabricator is sold out of administration
Some 22 staff have been made redundant at a Blackburn metal fabrication company which has been sold out of administration.
Although 29 jobs in the Laser Shapes (UK) laser cutting division were saved, the staff in the other parts of the business have had to go.
Laser Shapes operated as a fabricator of metals from freehold premises. The business, which historically generated turnover of around £4m per year and employed 51 staff, traded under three divisions – Spiro-Fab, Engineering 2000 and Laser Shapes.
Lindsey Cooper and Jeremy Woodside of RSM Restructuring Advisory were appointed joint administrators the company on April 27.
The company had suffered from cashflow difficulties resulting from higher than expected costs of a recent move to bigger premises, in addition to a downturn in the industry which affected margins.
The laser cutting division of the company was subsequently sold to Laser Shapes (NW) on April 28, a company owned by existing management. Twenty-nine employees were taken on by the new company which will continue to operate from the site in Blackburn.
As a buyer for the remaining parts of the business could not be found, the 22 staff members were made redundant and are being assisted by RSM with their claims to the Redundancy Payments Office.
Other assets are in the process of being sold to an unrelated third party.
Lindsey Cooper, RSM partner and one of the Joint Administrators said: “This sale has allowed the business to continue to trade, it has secured 29 skilled jobs and delivered the best possible outcome for creditors in the circumstances. The administrators will now continue to maximise realisations from other assets for the benefit of creditors.”
