CBS Business Furniture Limited (02146389): administration
- Status
- Administration ended
- Administration began
- 2021-04-12
- Administrators
- Hugh Francis Jesseman, William Antony Batty
- Administrators' firm
- Antony Batty
- Formerly
- CBS Business Equipment Limited
- Incorporated
- 1987-07-13
- Location
- Gray`S Inn
- Industry
- 82990 Other business support service activities n.e.c.
Why it went into administration
- COVID-19
- HMRC / tax arrears
- Property / lease costs
From the administrators' statement
The Company was incorporated in July 1987 and was established by three business partners with a background in office furniture and machines. The current managing director, Mr Green, joined the following year. The business was initially focused on supplying office equipment to commercial clients within the United Kingdom and its early success led to the Company being purchased by Oracle Corporation in 1990. The Company subsequently expanded its expertise to encompass interior design within office environments and the manufacturing of its own range of workstations.
In addition to organic growth, the Company made a number of acquisitions including those of Typewrite of Windsor and Bruce & Lumb, a flooring firm which provided the Company with the opportunity to increase its capabilities in respect of interior design. During this period the Company sold the machinefocused section of the business in order to concentrate on its core competencies of office design and furniture.
The turnover of the Company grew steadily, from £3m in 1996 to £4.5m in 2007, at which point Mr Green, who was by then the sales director, completed a management buyout of the Company. The Company continued to increase sales and profits but was severely affected by the global economic crisis of 2007-09 and saw its turnover halved. The Company recovered, however, moving to its current premises in Ascot and securing lucrative contracts with new and existing clients such as international pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim. As at the date of my appointment the rent charged to the Company was £11,400 per quarter. :
Administrators' statement of proposals (2021-06-14) · Companies House register