A longstanding supplier to the construction industry in Yorkshire and Humber has called in administrators, leading to the loss of 26 jobs.
Scunthorpe-based Builders’ Merchant Company Ltd also ran outlets in Hull, Goole and Rotherham first opened its doors in 1928 and had undergone a management buyout in 2021, when it launched a new offices in Humberston. The business had been subject to a winding up petition from Close Invoice Finance, filed in September.
Management had made attempts to find a rescue buyer but administrators Andrew Mackenzie and Laura Baxter of Begbies Traynor were appointed, leading to all 26 staff being made redundant. It is now hoped that the firm’s four sites and other assets can be sold.
In 2021 Builders’ Merchant Company was acquired by husband and wife team Duncan and Jane Thomson, who had run the business for more than a decade. At the time, the firm projected a £12m turnover and had a strategy to open five branches in five years. That followed the relocation to a larger site in Hull, with sites in Rotherham and Goole also added.
The most recent unaudited accounts for the business, covering 2022, show it employed as many as 42 people and recorded that it owed creditors more than £3.1m and had assets, including amounts owed to it, of more than £3.6m.
Joint administrator Andrew Mackenzie, of Begbies Traynor, said: “Unfortunately the construction industry continues to face extremely challenging conditions and the knock-on effect of that is being felt by suppliers including Builders’ Merchant Company. We are now working hard to maximise the value of the company’s assets and ensure the best possible return for creditors.”
Builders’ Merchant Company traces its roots to 1928 and was said to be the largest independent timber and building supplies supplier in Lincolnshire. It joined forces with Grimsby timber importer Winteringham Brothers during WW2 and was known as Harrison and Jewitt for a period, before returning to trading under the Builders’ Merchant Company name in 2011.
Original artice – https://business-live.co.uk/all-about/yorkshire-humber
