Bidders line up for Brimar
ADMINISTRATORS are considering nine bids for all or part of the failed military electronics firm Brimar.
Dermot Power and Tony Nygate of accountancy firm BDO were appointed to the Manchester-based business on November 9 and have since been trying to find a buyer.
Their report into the firm’s affairs suggests a sale could be completed next month, saving around 80 jobs at a site in Middleton.
Brimar makes thermal imaging systems and electronic displays for tanks, aircraft and helicopters, such as the Apache. The administrators, who are continuing to trade the business, have secured supply agreements with defence contractors BAE Systems and Thales.
The business also services the film and TV business, a division which harks back to its origins making valves for radios and cathode ray tubes for televisions.
BAE, one of the firm’s biggest customers, is also its biggest single creditor after loaning £1.8m in April 2012 to help it repay a £2m Bank of Scotland debt. Further advances of £900,000 against orders have left it with a liability of £2.7m.
The firm’s owner, Cheshire-based Peter Giles, is owed £975,000 through Giles Briggs Holdings which is secured against company assets. Unsecured debts are valued at £12m and these creditors are unlikely to get anything back. The company’s defined pension scheme has a deficit of £10m but the statutory Pension Protection Fund is expected to take on the scheme, however it will only be ranked as an unsecured creditor.
In the 10 months to the end of October Brimar posted a £1m loss on sales of £8.8m, down from £12m in the year to December 2011. In its last full accounts it said margins had been squeezed by a shortfall in defence orders from the US.
The administrators said losses increased due to pension costs, raw material prices, and redundancy costs. The losses created cashflow problems and made it harder for the firm to service its bank debt.
Over the years Brimar has been part of many companies including Edison Swan Electric, Mazda, Baird Television, Ferranti, EMI, Thorn, Marconi and The Rank Organisation.
