S. Finlayson & SON Limited (SC121064): administration
- Status
- Administration ended
- Administration began
- 2011-06-30
- Administrators
- David K Hunter, Derek Forsyth
- Administrators' firm
- Azets
- Formerly
- Workstep Limited
- Incorporated
- 1989-11-01
- Location
- Glasgow
- Industry
- 4531
Why it went into administration
- Cash flow / liquidity pressure
- Sustained trading losses
- Bad debts / customer insolvency
- Competition / price pressure
From the administrators' statement
The Company was incorporated on 1 November 1989 under Company number $C121064 and its principal activity was the provision of pre medical installation services and electrical contracting work. In 2003, Charles White Ltd acquired the shareholding of the company. At that time, the electrical contracting work was loss making and during 2003/2004 a bad debt on the electrical work created significant cashflow difficulties. The pre medical installation work enjoyed a good reputation with good systems and processes in place and a constant order book. The Company operated out of offices in Gatwick and Edinburgh and completed contract work in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
Turnover fell from £5.2m in 2008 to £2.9m in 2009 with losses of £331k resulting in 2009. The contract work was cyclical with a quiet period from June to September annually; this created additional cashflow difficulties for the Company. In order to finance operations, Charles White Ltd provided an unlimited intercompany guarantee to the Royal Bank of Scotland plc in respect of amounts due by the company.
The company struggled to maintain the order book during the economic downturn and the directors reviewed the overheads in an attempt to reduce costs. There followed two rounds of redundancies and the Directors focused on sourcing new contracts which would better spread the work throughout the year. Charles Whyte Ltd continued to provide financial support to S Finlayson & Son Ltd until January 2011 at which time the directors of Charles White Ltd determined that they could no longer support the Company. Mindful of their responsibilities, the directors of S Finlayson & Son Ltd sought professional advice. Attempts were made to attract investment into the Company or to achieve a sale of the Company. A new competitor was approached
Administrators' statement of proposals (2011-09-02) · Companies House register