Concord Limited, BAS Castings Limited and H. I. Quality Steel Castings Limited
Ross Connock and Edward Williams of PwC were appointed joint administrators of Concord Limited, BAS Castings Limited and HI Quality Steel Castings Limited on 30 March 2023.
The Group operated two casting foundries in Pinxton, Nottinghamshire (BAS) and Whittington Moor, Chesterfield (HIQ) which manufacture and supply high integrity iron and steel castings worldwide. At the time of the administrators’ appointment, BAS had 78 employees and HIQ had 76.
The Group’s growth and financial stability has been impacted by a legacy defined benefit pension scheme which it was no longer able to support given a period of underperformance arising from Covid-19 and more recently by rising energy costs and inflation.
Despite extensive work around options, the pension trustee has recently made the difficult decision to wind the scheme up. The directors therefore concluded that the businesses could not continue to trade as a going concern and had little alternative other than to place the Group into administration.
Following their appointments, the joint administrators undertook an accelerated process of limited trading and completion of work in progress where possible alongside rapidly exploring any interest in a sale of the businesses and assets. This has resulted in a sale of all the business and assets of HIQ which has preserved all 76 jobs to Chesterfield Metal Technologies Limited (a subsidiary of William Cook Holdings Limited) on 6 April. Unfortunately the limited interest in BAS has resulted in 59 redundancies being announced at the same date, with a small number of employees (18) retained to assist the administrators.
Eddie Williams, joint administrator, said:
“I am pleased that our significant efforts since appointment have been able to save so many jobs at HIQ in a sector already experiencing a number of economic challenges. However it is very disappointing that having exhausted all options around a sale or funding, we have no alternative other than to announce this level of redundancies at BAS.
“We understand that this is a very difficult time for the employees and we will be providing support to the employees impacted over the coming weeks.”
Chris Seymour, William Cook, said:
“We are delighted that we've managed to work with the joint administrators to complete the purchase of the majority of HIQ's business and assets. We now look forward to stabilising the business utilising the strength and depth from across the rest of the William Cook group and working with HIQ’s employees who will be key to future growth and profitability"
Creditors and suppliers section
Creditors and suppliers of all three companies have been written to and information as to how to submit your claim will follow shortly. If you require information in the meantime, please contact:
BAS creditors - uk_bas_creditors@pwc.com
HIQ creditors - uk_hiq_creditors@pwc.com
BAS suppliers - uk_bas_suppliers@pwc.com
HIQ suppliers - uk_hiq_suppliers@pwc.com
Customers
Customer queries should be directed to:
BAS customers - uk_bas_customers@pwc.com
HIQ customers - uk_hiq_customers@pwc.com
Employees
FAQs for employees who have been retained
FAQs for employees who have been made redundant
Concord Limited
All queries regarding Concord Limited should be sent to:
Concord uk_concord@pwc.com
Documents available to download
BAS Castings Limited - Joint Administrators' progress report dated 26 April 2024
H.I. Quality Steel Castings Limited - Joint Administrators' progress report dated 26 April 2024
Concord Limited - Administrators final report
BAS Castings- AM19 - Notice of extension of period of administration
H.I.Quality Steel Castings- AM19 - Notice of extension of period of administration
H.I. Quality Steel Castings - Joint Administrators Remuneration report dated 19 January 2024
BAS Castings - Joint Administrators' Remuneration report dated 19 January 2024
Concord- Joint Administrators’ progress report dated 27 October 2023
H.I. Quality Steel Castings- Joint Administrators’ progress report dated 27 October 2023
BAS Castings - Joint Administrators’ progress report dated 27 October 2023
H.I. Quality Steel Castings - AM07 - Notice of creditor's decision on administrator's proposals
BAS - AM07 - Notice of creditor's decision on administrator's proposals
Concord - AM06 - Notice of approval of administrator's proposals
BAS - Joint Administrators' proposals for achieving the purpose of administration
Concord - Joint Administrators' proposals for achieving the purpose of administration
H.I. Quality Steel Castings - Proof of debt form
Ross Connock and Edward Williams have been appointed as joint administrators of Concord Limited, BAS Castings Limited and H. I. Quality Steel Castings Limited to manage their affairs, business and property, and act without personal liability. All are licensed in the United Kingdom to act as insolvency practitioners by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
The Joint Administrators are bound by the Insolvency Code of Ethics which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/insolvency-practitioner-code-of-ethics
The Joint Administrators may act as controllers of personal data as defined by UK data protection law depending upon the specific processing activities undertaken. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP may act as a processor on the instructions of the Joint Administrators. Personal data will be kept secure and processed only for matters relating to the Joint Administrators’ appointment. Further details are available in the privacy statement on the PwC.co.uk website or by contacting the Joint Administrators.
