78 jobs saved as administrators agree deal for manufacturer

A DEAL has been agreed that has saved 78 jobs at a Black Country metal manufacturer.

H & E Knowles (Lye) was run by the fifth generation of the Knowles family and collapsed into adminstration on November 30 but a deal has now been done with two members of the family.

Peter and Daniel Knowles have created HE Knowles (Manufacturing) to purchase “certain parts of the business and assets”.

All 78 employees at the business’s two sites Quarry Bank and Cradley, in Dudley, will move to the new entity.

H & E Knowles was founded in the early 1920s and has remained under the control of the founding family for nearly a century.

The business manufactured a wide range of products including garden-ware such as wheelbarrows, greenhouses, storage units and incinerators.

Daniel Knowles said: “We are deeply saddened at the demise of our old family business, both for ourselves and our long standing suppliers. We have tried hard to save the jobs of the entire workforce. We are now looking forward to working together with the existing customers and suppliers to build a better future.”

The most recent published accounts for H & E Knowles (Lye), for the year to January 2015, showed it broke even on sales of £6.76m.

The business invested heavily in 2015 in premises and machinery, but administrators said it was unable to benefit from that investment and incurred losses. 

The company cash flow was restricted by the increase in finance costs and the directors were ultimately unable to restructure the company’s operations and working capital requirements.

Simon Chandler and Scott Bevan, from the restructuring services division of Mazars, were appointed joint administrators.

Mr Chandler said: “The closure of the business would have resulted in the redundancy of all employees immediately before the Christmas period. The sale of the business preserves and protects those 78 employees.”