Part of East Midlands manufacturing group acquired out of administration

Part of an East Midlands-based manufacturing group, which fell into administration as a result of factors including COVID-19, inflation and rising energy costs, has been acquired by Chesterfield Metal Technologies, a William Cook Holdings subsidiary.

Concord Limited, BAS Castings Limited and HI Quality Steel Castings Limited entered administration after a period of underperformance in the wake of COVID-19, which meant the group was no longer able to support a legacy-defined benefit pension scheme. The group was also subsequently hit by inflation and rising energy costs.

Ross Connock and Edward Williams of PwC were appointed as joint administrators to the group and began an accelerated process during which the group undertook limited trading and completion of work in progress where possible while interest was gauged in a sale of the businesses and their assets.

Following this process, a sale of all the business and assets of HIQ to Chesterfield Metal Technologies was secured, saving 76 jobs. However, there was limited interest in BAS, resulting in 59 redundancies among the company’s staff, with 18 retained to assist in the administration process.

The group operates two casting foundries in Nottinghamshire and Chesterfield, manufacturing and supplying iron and steel casting worldwide.

Commenting on the process, joint administrator Edward Williams said: "I am pleased that our significant efforts since appointment have been able to save so many jobs at HIQ in a sector already experiencing a number of economic challenges. However, it is very disappointing that having exhausted all options around a sale or funding, we have no alternative other than to announce this level of redundancies at BAS.”

William Cook’s group managing director Chris Seymour added: “We are delighted that we’ve managed to work with the joint administrators to complete the purchase of the majority of HIQ’s business and assets. We now look forward to stabilising the business utilising the strength and depth from across the rest of the William Cook group and working with HIQ’s employees who will be key to future growth and profitability.”


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