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Lawson's 650 staff find safe haven
Page 6
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ichard Lawson staff have faced an uncertain future since it went into )dministration — but now they can breathe again. Guy Sheppard reports.
'ROUBLED CAR ransport specialist Richrd Lawson Auto Logiscs has been sold, ending -ionths of uncertainty for :s650 employees.
Lawson went into dministration in Septemer,apparently because of rippling interest paytents on debt.
The Dundee-based firm as been bought by a .ewIy created company amed after Lawson's ubsidiary, Autocare, which speialises in non-transport services uch as pre-delivery inspections. iLutocare Group will be headed by awson's MD Colin Johnson and .nance director Sandy Fyfe.
Bruce Cartwright, one of the dministrators, says: "This is a complex logistics business and there have been a number of issues to address. We are therefore delighted to have been able to negotiate a solution."
Autocare was advised by Manchester-based management consultant Grafton Associates, whose spokesman David Horton says: "They [Autocare] anticipate a period of stabilisation on the transport and distribution side while the fleet management business will embark on a strategy of relatively aggressive growth alongside a number of innovations, Lawson was founded in 1978 by Richard Lawson who finally ended all connection with the company last year when he left parent group Wallenitis Wilhelmsen.
Although pleased by the news of the sale, he warns that trading conditions will remain tough: "At a point in time where the complexity of the supply chain has increased significantly there has been unprecedented pressure on price reduction."
The sale of Richard Lawson Auto Logistics does not include its German-based sister company, Richard Lawson Autologistik, which will remain a subsidiary of Wilhelmsen.