James McNaney
3 minutes
BREAKING |
The shipyards are set to be sold
The parent company of the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast is to enter administration in the coming days
Harland and Wolff have announced that the parent company of the famous shipyard will enter administration.
In a business update, the company said that they have concluded the company “is insolvent on a balance sheet basis per its last audited accounts and most recent management accounts”.
“Accordingly, contingency planning for the making of an administration order and appointment of administrators from Teneo is underway for the company. This process will likely commence this week.”
The update says that it anticipates that the subsidiary companies that hold the shipyards are likely to be bought by “interested parties”.
Harland and Wolff Group Holdings PLC operates four shipyards across NI and GB, as well as an interest in the Islandmagee gas storage project.
The board of the company has seen notable changes too, with former
Russell Downs, the interim executive chair of the company, commented: "The Group faces a very challenging time given the overhang of significant historic losses and its failure to secure long term financing.”
"Good progress has been made to test the market for investor appetite.
“The Board has reluctantly concluded that the Company's own future as an AIM-listed company will likely come to an end in the near future, but that the core operations undertaken by the four yards and Islandmagee will continue to trade as usual.
"It is important to recognise that this is extremely difficult news for the Company's staff directly affected and will impact many others within group.
"We will work to support our staff through this transition. Unfortunately, extremely difficult decisions have had to be taken to preserve the future of our four yards.
"This will clearly be very unwelcome news for shareholders who have shown significant commitment to the business over the last five years.
"The Board, the senior management and rest of the team are committed to deliver the best outcome for the four yards and communities they serve to ensure their continued operation into the long term under new ownership."
News Catch Up: Monday 16th September
by notfuckingcurious
10 comments
Serious Question, would there be any possible way for Stormont or Westminster to nationalise a business like Harland and Wolff or Wrightbus, (whether they would is a whole other story) in a way that isn’t basically bailing out the management.
Is assume for H&W there could be some sort of National Security argument for it if like a foreign investment group in like the UAE or China were looking to buy it. Didn’t they get some contract with the MoD a couple years back?
” It said that an unspecified number of redundancies at the listed holding company, Harland & Wolff Group, were inevitable, but added that it was hopeful that the companies operating its shipyards will be bought. Those core operations will “continue to trade as usual” for now, it added.
All shareholders in Harland & Wolff are likely to lose their money, the company said. However, as many as 20 companies have expressed interest in buying parts of the business in a sales process carried out by Rothschild, an investment bank, according to a person with knowledge of the talks. Sky News reported at the weekend that Babcock, a London-listed defence contractor, was considering a bid.
When administrators are appointed, it will represent the second time in five years that the owner of the Belfast yards has gone under. The oil services company InfraStrata bought the yards out of administration in 2019, before adopting the historic Harland & Wolff name and attempting to reinvent itself as a shipbuilder.”
[Owner of Belfast shipyard that built Titanic to enter administration | Shipping industry | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/sep/16/belfast-shipyard-owner-harland-wolff-to-enter-administration)
While its sad to see a business go under, this is one that has been long over due.
Hopefully we will see some decent redevelopment in this area
“Insolvent on a balance sheet basis”, implies the yards themselves to be cash flow positive (possibly, if not it’s unusual and misleading wording). If that’s true, expect new owners, and business as usual (probably).
The horrific sectarian history of the place means I can’t care about this.
Fuckity bye from the Thick of It is all it deserves.
Whats likely to be on the land there now? It’s a sizable plot but if housing went in, I’d imagine the bypass would be fucked.
That’s rugged capitalism for you. The board will be well taken care of no matter what happens. Goodbye.
Did you know they built Titanic? Not many people know that.