Partner Article

Watson Norie in administration

An electrical and instrumentation contractor has called in the administrators after nearly 90 years of trading.

Watson Norie Limited, whose head office is based in Newcastle, has a wide range of clients across the UK and an annual turnover of approximately £28m. The firm was established in 1920, and now has satellite offices in Scunthorpe and Grangemouth.

The company had been in negotiations with an interested party to sell part of the business, however they withdrew last week due to the potential costs they might incur under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations.

Administrators from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP have now been appointed, but have said in a statement that it will not be possible to continue the company’s operations and fulfil outstanding contracts without significant additional funding. This has led to the immediate redundancy of a significant number of employees across the various sites and offices.

Mark Loftus, joint administrator and director at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said: “It is clearly disappointing that such a long established company and a well known name in the industry has been placed into insolvency proceedings, particularly for the employees. We are very keen to hear from anyone who may be interested in purchasing the business in whole or in part.”

Mark Loftus can be contacted at 01482 584 047 or mark.loftus@uk.pwc.com.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .