Jobs at risk as toy firm TP Activity Toys in administration
A toy company in the Midlands which supplies trampolines and climbing frames for firms including Tesco, John Lewis and Early Learning Centre has gone into administration, putting about 100 jobs at risk of redundancy.
A toy company in the Midlands which supplies trampolines and climbing frames for firms including Tesco, John Lewis and Early Learning Centre has gone into administration, putting about 100 jobs at risk of redundancy.
The directors of Kidderminster-based Tube Plastics Ltd, better known as TP Activity Toys, have called in business recovery firm Geoffrey Martin.
The administrator hopes to sell the business as a going concern and said "every effort" will be made to fulfil orders for Christmas. It has urged any customers awaiting deliveries to get in contact.
The company has been making toys for children for more than 50 years, generating turnover of more than £12 million this year. Inspired by the hula hoop craze in 1959, the founders of the toy company had semi-rigid plastic tubing which they made into hoops at home, selling them from their cars and making a profit of £200.
A decade later, the firm became the first first UK manufacturer to make slides out of fibreglass.
Managing director Chris Martyn-Smith said: "It is a very sad day, and the directors want to thank the many employees who have been such an important part of building the business over the last 50 years." The administration does not include Muddy Puddles, a subsidiary of TP which supplies children's outdoor clothing which the firm aquired in 2009. It sells a range of waterproofs, winter outdoor clothing and skiwear.
A spokesman for Geoffrey Martin said the company's financial difficulties stemmed from increasing overheads and its inability to carry out a refinancing.
The firm's first designed product was patented in 1963 – the single tower climbing set.
In 1975 the company expanded its range for kindergartens and nurseries.
As well as small trampolines and sandpits, the range was expanded to include an indoor climbing frame made from wood. By 1979 the range also included four-sided blackboards, a folding slide, desks and painting easels.
More recently in 2003 the company commissioned the largest injection moulding tool ever made for the toy industry and created the CrazyWavy slide made from injection moulded polyethylene.
Today's announcement is the latest blow for Kidderminster, coming two months after the 200-year-old carpet company Brintons announced that 70 jobs would be going with the closure of its town centre site, while luxury boat builder Sealine announced plans to axe up to 37 jobs as part of a streamlining of its workforce at its Worcester Road headquarters.
