126 redundancies as creditor deal fails at historic firm
REGENERATION business William Anelay has gone into administration after a deal with creditors fell through.
Julian Pitts and Bob Maxwell of Begbies Traynor were appointed as joint administrators of the company today. It has now ceased trading and 126 staff have been made redundant.
Other companies in the group, which collectively employ 50 people are unaffected, and 14 have remained with the business as it winds down.
In August the historic business announced that it was entering crisis talks with creditors after it took on projects outside its usual remit which proved to be “financially and operationally difficult.”
It proposed a company voluntary arrangement with creditors after running into cash flow difficulties.
William Anelay directors were “hopeful” that creditors would accept the CVA. They said at the time of proposal, a £33m pipeline had been secured with £9m of works under consideration and an additional £12m worth of work set for 2017-18.
Chairman and special projects director, Charles Anelay, who is the eighth generation of the founding family, said that there had been a high level of support in favour of the proposals, but the actions of a small number of suppliers had “eroded the confidence of certain key clients.”
He said that the steps they had then implemented to protect their positions had in turn had a “devastating effect” on the company’s projected cash flow within the proposed arrangement.
Charles Anelay said: “We have worked very hard to save the business and do the best for our creditors by proposing a CVA. We really believed that we had a good plan to get through our cash difficulties, and were supported by our bank and HMRC.
“Unfortunately, the CVA proposal is no longer viable because some of our creditors have destabilised the situation by their actions on site and in relation to the CVA, and some of our clients have acted in ways that have meant that our expected cash flows, which were a key part of the CVA, will not happen.
“The last few weeks have been the worst of my life. We are hugely disappointed that it has come to this. We thank all our staff for their commitment and loyalty, apologise to those clients and creditors who have given their support and who will now lose out, and thank all past friends of the firm and members of the public who kindly gave their support
“All I can hope is that at some point in the future people will look back at William Anelay Ltd and recognise 269 years of skilled craftsmanship which gave us the privilege to restore parts of our country’s architectural heritage with some amazing projects on some very special buildings which will be admired far into the future.”
The business was founded in 1747 and now turns over £38m a year with 190 staff. It has worked nationally on projects including Lambeth Palace and Wilton’s Music Hall.
At the time of the CVA, William Anelay Ltd, had 17 schemes on site, including those at York Mansion House, Bradford City Hall and Lancaster Castle.
William Anelay Ltd was founded in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, and moved to York In the early 1900s, partly because of a friendship between Thomas Anelay VI and architect Walter H Brierley who encouraged the business to get involved in many building opportunities as the city went through a period of expansion.
