Hundreds of jobs saved at commercial vehicle dealerships after sale agreed

More than 300 jobs have been saved at a Warrington-based commercial vehicle dealership.

Sarah O’Toole and Jason Bell of Grant Thornton in Manchester were appointed joint administrators to Roanza Limited and its subsidiary, Premier Vehicle Rental Limited, today (September 8).

Based in Warrington, Roanza operated full service Mercedes Van and Truck dealerships under franchise from eight sites, predominately in the North West.

The firm had a turnover of £180m in 2018.

Immediately on appointment, certain parts of the business and assets of the company were sold to Estar Truck and Van Limited, with approximately 340 employees transferred as a result of the sale.

Having secured the required franchises with Mercedes, Estar will continue to operate a range of services across the five sites at Trafford Park, Liverpool, Warrington, Deeside and Stoke-on-Trent.

The sale, for an undisclosed sum, did not include the company’s operations at sites in Doncaster, East Manchester and one of the two sites previously operated in Liverpool, which will all cease to trade with immediate effect.

Around 80 positions have been made redundant at these three sites, around half of which were already furloughed.

Sarah O’Toole, advisory partner at Grant Thornton, said: “While it is always difficult when any elements of a business cease to trade and redundancies need to be made, we are delighted to have secured the sale of operations and the five larger sites and the continued employment of the majority of staff.”

The commercial vehicle sector has been in contraction for some time, and the company suffered losses in 2019, which were exacerbated during lockdown.

Premier Vehicle Rentals operates a separate van and truck leasing business, with a fleet of more than 900 vehicle which was not included in the sale.

The rental company employed seven staff, a number of whom have been retained by the company in administration to assist with the realisation of assets for the benefit of the creditors.

Estar Truck and Van Ltd was incorporated in August.

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close