Administrators managed to save 78 jobs at a family run manufacturing firm in the Black Country, just 24 days before Christmas. Administrators from the Restructuring Services division of Mazars, saved the employees at the H. & E. Knowles company which has been run by five generations of a local family by selling the business and its assets.
The 78 employees represent the entire workforce of the business which was founded in the early 1920s. The business which manufactures a wide range of garden-ware products invested heavily in 2015 in machinery and premises but was unable to benefit from the investment and incurred more losses.
The company was cash flow restricted following the expensive investments and was unable to restructure the company’s operations until they were appointed administrators from Mazars UK LLP, Simon Chandler and Scott Bevan.
Following the appointment of the administrators, certain parts of the family run business have been sold. Simon Chandler said “The closure of the business would have resulted in the redundancy of all employees immediately before the Christmas period. The sale of the business preserves and protects those 78 employees.”