Sam Woodward and Colin Dempster, partners in EY’s restructuring team have been appointed joint administrators of Hewden Stuart Ltd, Hewden Properties Ltd, Interlift Ltd and The Rigging House Ltd, which together form a Manchester-based plant hire business, and which has been in financial difficulty
Three divisions of the group have been sold to Ashtead Plant Hire Company Ltd. These are the access and power generation assets, the on-site plant business and the business and assets of Interlift Ltd.
A total of 133 employees will transfer across with the businesses.
A total of 251 employees have been made redundant across the company’s depot and on-site locations.
Sam Woodward, EY partner and joint administrator, said: ‘Management has been attempting to operationally reshape the business to focus on higher margin and quicker returning assets and services. However, this has proven challenging with the group’s capital structure and the recent trading environment.
‘Management recently undertook a number of initiatives including approaching new funders and potential acquirers to recapitalise the business, but unfortunately these efforts proved unsuccessful.’
Woodward said the administrators are currently assessing the optimum strategy for maximising value in the remainder of the group.
‘In the meantime, we will continue to work with stakeholders to maintain service levels to customers who have assets on hire,’ he said.
