Hawk companies call in the administrators

Sam Woodward, Alex Williams and Hunter Kelly of EY’s restructuring team have been appointed Joint Administrators of Hawk Plant (UK) Limited and its subsidiaries Hawk Plant Hire Limited, Hawk Hire Limited, Safety and Training Limited, Hawk Plant Limited, and Hawk Plant Sales Limited.

The group, based in Prees, is one of the largest independent plant hire companies in the UK, with a turnover of £93.5m in the financial year to the end of December 2017.

It has more than 40 years of experience in the plant hire industry, with its customer base primarily spanning the infrastructure, energy and homebuilding markets.

Sam Woodward, joint administrator, said: “The Group’s cashflow had been impacted by a number of historical problematic contracts and a delay in the commencement of anticipated projects. Coupled with this, the Group’s funding structure, with significant hire purchase and finance lease commitments put pressure on the cashflow at a time that asset utilisation was comparatively low”.

On appointment of the administrators, 83 of the group’s c.420 employees were made redundant.

Subsidiary Enverity Ltd, a ground survey and sight inspection business based in Newark, which employs an additional 20+ staff, remains solvent and unaffected by the administration.

Woodward continued: “We will now begin the process of seeking to find a suitable buyer for Hawk, to ensure the best possible outcome for all of the Group’s stakeholders. In the meantime, we will seek to minimise the impact on the customer base by keeping assets on hire and maintaining service levels.”

Employees affected by redundancy are being offered appropriate advice and support in making claims from the Redundancy Payments Office for outstanding wages, as well as redundancy and notice pay.

Woodward concluded: “It is with regret that 83 people have been made redundant. Our specialist team will work with those affected to help them claim outstanding wages and other payments due from the Redundancy Payments Office.”

Any parties interested in acquiring the Group or its subsidiaries should contact the Joint Administrators.