Haymills pulls plug on EAG

Receivers have been called into glazing company English Architectural Glazing after its owner Haymills decided not to inject any more money into the troubled firm.

Haymills acquired Architectural Glazing & Cladding Group, which includes EAG, EAG Small Works and Architectural Glazing (Scotland), in April 1999.

EAG had worked on a number of prestigious contracts including Bluewater and Cribbs Causeway shopping centres, Royal Opera House and Sadler's Wells Theatre.

Prior to the decision to call in the receivers, Haymills had issued proceedings in the Commercial Court against the vendors of the group, claiming substantial sums for breach of warranty. No date has been set for this hearing.

The company said the appointment of the joint administrative receivers, Paul Jeffery and John Reedie from KPMG, had no bearing on the litigation which "will be pursued with vigour".

The audited financial statements for 15 months ending March 1999 showed a pre-tax loss of £3.6m for AGCG.

Since acquiring the £20m turnover group, Haymills has injected considerable funds to meet trading losses, which a company spokesman said had run into "hundreds of thousands".

A Haymills statement said: "Further sums are still required to support new businesses, given shorter credit terms from suppliers and extended payments from contractors. The facilities available to AGCG are insufficient to meet these demands and the directors have no alternative to the current course of action."

KPMG has advertised EAG for sale. If a buyer can be found, it is hoped that redundancies within the 150 workforce can be kept to a minimum.