More than 130 jobs have been lost after a Sunderland-based manufacturer of conveyor systems collapsed.
SE-TEK was set up only last year following the management buyout of Komatsu Mining’s UK and was said to be growing fast with "substantial" new business wins. Now, administrators from FRP's Newcastle office have been appointed to the Sunderland Enterprise Park-based business after equity investors pulled out leaving a funding hole.
FRP said new investors were immediately approached and an accelerated sale process was undertaken. But while interest was shown, there were no offers for the business and without the prospect of fresh investment, the firm entered administration with most of its 135 staff made redundant.
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Following last year's management buyout, SE-TEK's management had diversified the business into new sectors which saw it supply conveyor components to mining, tunnelling, construction and aggregates customers. The team included CEO Giles Richell, along with a senior management team of four others, three of whom were employees of Komatsu, running the 200,000 sqft Southwick manufacturing site which is now closed.
At the time of last year's launch there had been plans to hire more staff and expand into new geographical markets, building on the operation's international reputation. In late 2021 the firm had tapped into the Government's Kickstarter scheme in order to hire 20 young people.
Allan Kelly, partner at FRP and joint administrator of SE-TEK Limited, said: “SE-TEK was growing quickly and the management team was confident in taking the business forward independently. However, following the withdrawal of a potential investor, the business faced significant financial challenges. Despite efforts to find a new investor or trade buyer, it was not possible to keep the business trading and, regrettably, SE-TEK has now ceased trading
“We are in discussions with potential interested parties and are also progressing an asset sale but still welcome any offers to restart operations. Our team on site is continuing to support the former employees in making claims to the Redundancy Payments Service during this challenging period.”
The buyout of the Sunderland operation was part of a wider plan for Komatsu to offload its UK conveyor business and included the separate sale of its projects business to North West-based Fairport Engineering Limited, which was subsequently sold to Stockton's px Group earlier this year.
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