Hampson sheds subsidiary in £2.37m fire sale
STRUGGLING aerospace group Hampson Industries has sold off the entire share capital of its Wigan-based BHW Components business in a deal worth £2.37m as it looks to cut its debts as quickly as possible.
Receivers orchestrated the sale of the shares to LNB UK Ltd for £2,365,000 in cash, of which £2,215,000 has already been paid. The remaining £150,000 will be paid within 30 days of the deal completing.
A statement issued by Hampson Industries said: “The consideration is payable by the purchaser to the receivers, on behalf of Hampson Aerospace Services Ltd and will be applied (after the deduction of the costs of sale) in repaying part of the outstanding debt owed by the group to the lenders under the group’s finance facilities.”
Black Country-headquartered Hampson abandoned plans to sell off BHW in the summer owing to “significant production rescheduling by a key customer” and the decision by another customer to retain operations in-house which it had originally planned to outsource to BHW.
BHW, which supplies firms like GKN, Airbus and Bombardier, had gross assets of £15.16m as of March 31, 2011 and recorded a net loss for the period to March 31, 2011 of £3.91m.
Shares in Hampson were suspended in July as the company said it was unable to publish its annual accounts due to concerns over the financing and strategic options available to the group.
It also shelved plans to progress the sale of the business because no suitable offers for the group were received.
It had been in talks with an unnamed third party for the potential disposal of its troublesome US operations but nothing has ever been agreed.
However, it has repeatedly warned shareholders that there is unlikely to be any value remaining in their holdings.
In the statement announcing the BHW deal, the group said: “With the support of the group’s lenders, the board of directors continue to actively pursue the objective of achieving a sale of the group’s US operations (and of the group’s interests in India).
“The conclusion of the sale of the group’s US and Indian operations (and the realisation of any remaining assets) are not expected to result in there being any value remaining for the company’s shareholders.”
