Palgrave bought but only 40 jobs saved
CHORLEY-based Palgrave Brown, which went into administration in early November with the loss of more than 400 jobs, has been bought by James Donaldson & Sons.
The Fife-based timber firm bought all Palgrave land and buildings, plant and machinery and stock from the administrators at BDO Stoy Hayward for an undisclosed sum.
The £100m turnover company will keep on just 40 of Palgrave’s remaining 90 staff and trade the site as Alfred Hulme Ltd, the original name of the company when it started on the site around 1919.
James Donaldson said that while it had not escaped the downturn of the construction industry, it has avoided the worst by ensuring a broad spread of customers across different industry sectors.
Neil Donaldson, chairman of James Donaldson and Sons, said: “The Chorley site was rightly being sold as a going concern as it has good facilities, a skilled workforce and geographically is well positioned to help us grow strongly once the economic conditions improve.
“Customers of the site can rest assured that they will continue to receive the same excellent service and will have access to the current product range. In 2009, our aim is to enhance this service by increasing the product range on offer.
“I am pleased we have been able to safeguard local jobs in the area and we look forward to working well with the latest additions to our team.”
Adminstrators at BDO were called in on November 4 at Palgrave, which was one of the UK’s leading suppliers of timber engineered products such as roof trusses. It had a turnover of £63m last year and supplied all the major housebuilders.
