100 jobs go as Oldham engineering group fails

NEARLY 100 staff have been made redundant at an Oldham civil engineering business after costs associated with a legal dispute pushed it into insolvency.

DCT Group, which focused on road and energy projects, is now being handled by administrators at the Manchester office of EY. The insolvency has affected three trading businesses – DCT Holdings, DCT Civil Engineering and DCT Plant.

The administrators said the firm won a long-standing dispute against Liverpool City Council but was obliged to pay legal costs incurred by the authority. No further details of the case were given.

All staff have been made redundant apart from 13 who have been kept on to work with the administrators. The business was set up in 1980 and had sales of around £37m. Its largest shareholders were directors Peter Greenhalgh and Brian Ashton.

Joint administrator Tom Jack said: “DCT Group was a long established engineering business that has been impacted by the outcome of a legal dispute. Despite this being settled in the group’s favour, the group is now required to pay substantial legal costs which have been incurred by the other party over a number of years.

“As a result the group has insufficient cashflow to fund continued trading and the directors of the group have concluded that the group is insolvent. We are therefore working with the directors and retained employees to try to preserve and sell contracts and maximise asset values for the group’s creditors.”

The administrators are now seeking offers for the group’s contracts, freehold property and equipment.