Administrators of Swiftwood Imports Ltd have received some offers for the business.
Joint administrator Ian Carr of Grant Thornton told TTJ that several offers for Wisbech-based Swiftwood had been received in response to an advert in the Financial Times.
And as TTJ went to press he hoped several further offers would be forthcoming to meet a deadline of noon on August 31.
Mr Carr said the hope was to sell Swiftwood, a machined softwoods distributor founded in 1982, as a going concern but said the offers could reflect a variety of scenarios.
Mr Carr said Swiftwood, which continues to trade normally, had incurred losses which “needed to be stemmed”.
“It’s a difficult market where you have got cheaper imports coming into the country. Swiftwood was looking to add value and was supplying the independent merchants. But you have large sheds who are able to buy very competitively.”
He said the company going into administration was clearly “not good news” for the staff, though he said many had anticipated the move. But he said new orders had been made and staff could see the business was still operating normally.
Swiftwood comprises three companies – the main business unit Swiftwood Imports with 27 staff, a mill and £500,000 worth of stock; a holding company, and Kingham Transport Ltd.
Kingham, which transported Swiftwood’s products across England and Wales, has been closed by the administrators and eight drivers laid off. Eight trucks will be sold.
The company was the subject of a management buyout in 2005 by Sebastian Di Cataldo and Peter Fiddling.
A £3.25m funding package from Lloyds TSB boosted the then new owners’ aim of capturing more of the added value market.
Swiftwood’s products include planed square edge construction timber cladding, skirtings, architraves, window sections, decking, beads and quadrants.
