Modec optimistic about its future, despite administration
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george.barrow@rbi.co.uk ELECTRIC VAN manufacturer Modec remains optimistic about its future, despite going into administration last week.
The Coventry irm, which recorded a turnover of £9.3m and a pre-tax loss of £5.9m in its accounts up to 2009, had ambitions to sell 2,000 vehicles per year, but has struggled to gain large orders as demand for electric vehicles waned.
It entered administration after an acquisition deal by its current stakeholder, the American irm Navistar, fell through.
Paul O’Dowd, Modec national sales manager, says: “The economic climate had a detrimental effect on the uptake of EVs. People have been buying a smaller number of units to run trials, however, the strength of the business is that we have a complete vehicle to buy rather than prototype.
“There’s still a lot of interest for our products, and all our customers have been very supportive as they believe we’ll get a buyer.” Ryan Grant, Simon Appell and Anne O’Keefe of Zolfo Cooper have been appointed joint administrators to restructure the business, and have already made 26 of the company’s 53 employees redundant. Modec owed £32.2m as of 31 December 2009 and registered just two vehicles last year, while its auditor, Grant Thornton, warned in the 2009 accounts of a “material uncertainty that may cast doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern”.
O’Dowd continues: “We are leading the way in terms of our product, and have learnt a lot from the technology. The EV market hasn’t matured just yet, but our customers are behind us and have commitment levels of 200-300 units. Tier one and tier two operators are still talking big numbers, and there’s also still a lot of interest leading up to the Olympics.” UPS took delivery of 14 vehicles last month.
“For the moment though it’s business as usual as we carry on supporting our customers while waiting for a buyer,” he adds.