NC's bosses bid to buy
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IN A Northern Counties management/employee buyout team has been named as preferred bidder for the Wigan-based bodybuilder.
Directors Nick Parsons and Ian Murray are to take 76% of the shares with two people from outside the double-deck specialist, which called in the administrator more than a year ago. The remaining 24% will go to the employees.
The sale should be completed in August, says Parsons, production and engineering director at NC for the past five years. He will share the role of joint managing director with Murray, who has been sales and marketing director for two years.
The two un-named directors will be chairman and financial director. Former managing director Neil Scales left a few months ago and is a full-time consultant to the Greater Manchester PTE, which owns Northern Counties.
The buyout team was named preferred bidder on Wednesday, after talks with another potential buyer collapsed. Administrator Grant Thornton will not say which company it was: "They want to keep it so secretive that they didn't even visit the premises themselves, they sent agents," says administrator Gordon Craig.
One of the first jobs for the new team will be to recruit 50 production staff to cope with orders valued at more than £4m up to Christmas. There are 180 production staff, in a workforce of 230.
Parsons is optimistic that last week's announcement will instill customer confidence and attract more orders.
"Some firms were worried about using Northern Counties once they heard it was in administration," he says. "Hopefully they will now realise we are going to remain in business."
NC is now breaking even. The company last made a profit in 1988, he adds.
Grant Thornton was called in after the business exceeded its £500,000 overdraft. It had about 300 creditors. The administrator blamed management for not reducing its staff in line with the downturn in sales and laid off more than 200 staff when it arrived in May 1991.
It started recruiting after winning an order last December (CM 5-11 Dec 1991).