Walsall bathroom manufacturer ceases trading with all jobs lost
Some of the assets of one of Walsall’s oldest domestic bathroom manufacturers have been sold by administrators.
IBC Products of Bedford has bought them after Imperial Bathrooms on Empire Industrial Estate, Brickyard Road, Aldridge, ceased trading with the loss of all jobs.
Neil Bennett and Dane O’Hara of Leonard Curtis were appointed administrators of Imperial Bathrooms at the end of January and immediately completed the asset sale.
Imperial Bathrooms, founded in 1987, was a manufacturer and distributor of hand-crafted bathroom fixtures and fittings and employed 37 members of staff.
The company had ceased trading prior to the administration, but the sale of certain assets to IBC has secured the future of the long-standing brand.
Mr O’Hara said: “Despite an accelerated but thorough mergers and acquisitions process, attracting in excess of 60 expressions of interest, we were sadly not able to identify a purchaser for the business and assets of the company on a going concern basis.
“Traditional manufacturing businesses in the UK are faced with a host of difficulties in the current climate, competing on price with overseas manufacturers whilst trying to manage the ever-increasing overhead and energy costs.
“Thecompany was one of very few domestic manufacturers remaining in this sector, and despite the cessation of its manufacturing activities we are pleased that the sale of certain assets to IBC Products Ltd will ensure that this prestigious brand continues into the future.
“We are continuing to liaise with all key stakeholders concerning the administration process and anticipate substantial returns to the company’s secured, preferential and secondary preferential creditors, as well as a potential return to unsecured creditors.”
