A pre-pack deal has saved 32 jobs at high-voltage installation business Gunning Transmission & Distribution Services (GTDS), but the future of its renewable energy parent group remains uncertain.<\/p>\n
European construction group Strabag has bought the majority of the business and assets of GTDS from administrators.<\/p>\n
However HMRC has already filed winding-up petitions this month against 10 other companies in the Ethical Power group, which had owned GTDS since May 2024.<\/p>\n
Last March Exeter-based Ethical Power completed an equity-for-debt restructuring that saw Hive Energy make a further investment into the group in a deal that was designed to re-establish balance sheet support.<\/p>\n
In December it agreed the sale of a 50MW solar-storage project, Burcot Energy Park in south Oxfordshire, to Chint Solar. But the group’s financial problems have persisted.<\/p>\n
GTDS’s most recent filed accounts, for the year to August 2024, show revenues had more than doubled to \u00a396m, which it said was “a direct result of [the] drive to de-carbonise the UK’s power generation and distribution system”. However it banked just \u00a3420,000 in profits.<\/p>\n
At the time it employed more than 70 staff, but its workforce has been reduced by more than half in around 18 months.<\/p>\n
Stafford-based GTDS is a specialist in high voltage transmission and distribution works and primarily operates under framework agreements with National Grid.<\/p>\n
However “a number of projects” were loss-making which significantly impacted cashflow.<\/p>\n
It faced three winding-up petitions last year, and in November the petition had 39 supporting creditors. GTDS’s directors sought to find a rescue deal, but were unable to find a solvent outcome.<\/p>\n
Gareth Slater and Joshua Dwyer from Interpath were appointed joint administrators on Friday and agreed the deal with the UK division of Strabag.<\/p>\n
Slater said: “The transaction protects jobs and enables GTDS\u2019s business to become part of Strabag – a major European player in the sector.”<\/p>\n
It is a first step into the UK’s regulated energy markets for Strabag, which has its UK team based in London, Manchester and Solihull, will continue to operate GTDS’s existing site.<\/p>\n
Simon Wild, managing director at Strabag UK, said: “We have been seeking to expand our UK presence in the high- voltage and energy sector, and the opportunity to bring specialist capability with a strong and talented team into Strabag was one we could not ignore.<\/p>\n
“This approach allows us to leverage our global-local model, enabling us to bring the best of Strabag to this power infrastructure programme, which will contribute to upgrading and modernising the UK\u2019s electricity network.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Exclusive: European construction group Strabag buys assets from administrators<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":34728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"coauthors":[81],"class_list":["post-34727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-deals","tag-devon","tag-staffordshire","tag-top-story"],"yoast_head":"\n