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Gloystarne calls in Ernst & Young after cash crisis
Page 9
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• by Dominic Perry
Rotherham-based distribution and warehousing firm Gloystarne has gone into administration due to a cash crisis at the company.
Administrators Ernst & Young are now running the South Yorkshire operator and are looking to sell it as a going concern, although the worstcase scenario would be to see the company shut down.
According to its accounts in the year ending 31 December 2000, Gloystarne had a turnover of more than 2.25m, but despite this made a loss of i678,000. Last year it turned over a similar sum. A spokes
woman for Ernst & Young says that the company has not made a profit since 1999: "Essentially, it did not have sufficient funds to keep going," she says.
'They were looking at a restructuring programme to get it back on track and there is a lot about this company that is very good.' She cites rising labour costs and price pressures from customers as some of its major problems.
She could not give a timeframe for the sell-off but adds: It's always got to be a balancing act between keeping the company running, incurring more debts and achieving a sale."
There is no indication yet as
to the size of the firm's debts or how much is owed to its creditors. Depending on the terms of the sell-off, subcontractors to Gloystarne could face a shortfall in the debts owed them.
However, local hauliers branded the firm as a notoriously low payer of subbies. One, who did not wish to be named, says: "Their rates were absolutely appalling, I'm not surprised they are in trouble if that's the sort of money they were running for."
The firm has depots in Rotherham, Glasgow, Bristol and Milton Keynes and currently employs 440 people.
• E-mail: dominic.perry* rbi.co.uk