Shawtrack Services, a Nottinghamshire engineering company specialising in the manufacture of commercial vehicle bodies, looks set to be acquired after falling into administration.
Documents from the administrators show a difficult decade for the company, starting with a drop in demand after 2014 – a time in which sales staff left on mass to work for a competitor.
The announcement of Brexit then saw uncertainty and cancelled orders. While in June 2016, after the Brexit vote, many orders were reinstated, the business did not have the workforce to complete them and struggled to hire staff – an issue which continued to present day. Brexit import regulations would then cause disruption to sales.
Trade increased at Shawtrack until the COVID-19 pandemic, when half of staff were placed on furlough, with the other half working on essential vehicles. Sales for essential vehicles, however, were insufficient to cover the overheads.
Despite the problems faced by the company, it was only in the past couple of years that it became loss making, seeing the directors/shareholders introduce their own money to prop up cashflow, but this has not been able to continue.
In 2022, directors decided to sell the company but were unsuccessful. The business didn’t have the cash to enable continued trading, requiring a quick sale.
The company had also gone into arrears with HM Revenue and Customs, which had been to the offices.
In 2023, directors contacted Revive Business Recovery to evaluate options for the firm.
Administrators were appointed to the company, following which a sale has now been proposed to Lexen Adey of STS (Clipstone) Limited for £350,000 – a party with no connection to the company.
