A. Thompson & Sons, a merchant based in Sunderland, is in administration.
Thompsons operates four branches in the North East and said last week that it was facing financial difficulties.
Yesterday Mark Firmin, Howard Smith and Paul Flint, of KPMG’s Restructuring practice, were appointed as joint administrators of A. Thompson & Sons.
Thompsons employ around 70 members of staff, however no redundancies have been made as of yet. Last week the company announced that they were exploring the option of seeking a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) with their creditors.
However, following a winding up petition from HMRC, Thompsons were unable to achieve a CVA without the protection of an administration.
Mark Firmin, joint administrator and regional head of restructuring at KPMG said: “The business has been ‘impacted’ by weak trading conditions across the sector which has led to cash pressures.
“Ultimately an inability to pay last month’s wage bill and the issuing of a winding up petition by HMRC have resulted in Thompsons entering administration.
“We are now assessing the financial position of the company while marketing the business and assets for sale.”
Any party interested in acquiring some or all of the business should contact James Lumb on behalf of the administrators immediately at james.lumb@kpmg.co.uk.
Update:
TAPS plumbing merchants, part of Sunderland-based A Thompson & Sons, has called in administrators.
The plumbers' merchant, which employs about 20 workers across six North East branches, is under the same ownership as Thompson Building Centres, which went into administration last week.
Mark Firmin, KPMG joint administrator, said: “It's become clear that trading and cash flow challenges that led to insolvency for Thompsons’ builders merchants have similarly impacted on TAPS.”
