Century-old Willenhall scrap recycling company collapses with loss of 45 jobs

Administrators from accountants KPMG were called in to WH Marren, in Willenhall, on Tuesday this week. The company had already stopped trading due to 'cash flow issues'.

The administrators have kept on a skeleton crew to help with winding down the business but 45 of the 52 employees have been made redundant.

Established in 1906, the company was still owned and run by the Marren family. It specialised in collecting and proecessing metals to be used in the manufacture of new goods, supplying tons of raw materials for companies across the UK, Europe and Asia.

But KPMG says it had experienced cash flow issues due to 'significant HMRC liabilities', which arose as a result of an investigation into financial irregularities in the supply chains in which WH Marren had traded.

The company subsequently ceased trading before the appointment of joint administrators Mark Orton and Will Wright from KPMG .

Mark Orton said: “Following what we understand to be extensive efforts by the directors to challenge the HMRC claim, the company has recently experienced significant cash flow pressures and was therefore unable to continue to trade and the directors took the difficult decision to place it into administration.

“Over the coming days we will commence an orderly wind-down of the business, and will also be speaking to interested parties with a view to trying to secure a sale of the assets. We would encourage anybody who may be interested in acquiring either the property, stock or assets to contact the joint administrators as soon as possible.”

The last set of accounts filed by WH Marren with Companies House, for the 12 months to the end of March last year, show turnover had more than halved after the loss of a major contract, down from £84.7 million to £38 million.

At the same time the company fell to a pre-tax loss of £111,663, compared to a profit of £125,000 the year before.