Addison’s creditors owed £4m

THE collapse of auto industry manufacturer Addison Mckee cost trade creditors nearly £4m.

A report by administrators at BDO Stoy Hayward said a nominal dividend for unsecured creditors was “likely” but no payments would be made for at least nine months.

Some 94 people lost their jobs when the Preston-based company went into administration in January.

Administrators said they could not sell the business as a going concern so they were disposing of assets in a bid to return cash to creditors.

In addition to unsecured creditors, which include some of the company’s own overseas divisions, it owed in invoice discounting company called Venture £2m and the Bank of America £5.9m.

The business, which made a £1.2m loss on turnover of £12.1m in the year to December 2008, was hit by the withdrawal of a string of orders from the automotive sector at the tail end of last year.

The Addison Mckee group has manufacturing centres in the US, Canada and China, which continue to trade. It is principally owned by WHI Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm.

Founded in 1956 by Edward Addison it started out importing metal cutting saws and tube bending machinery.