Buyer wanted for failed firm Loweth

Administrators are trying to find a buyer for Romford-based Loweth Ltd, the refurbishment and maintenance contractor that went into receivership last week with debts of up to £6m.
Nick Hood and Paul Davis, partners at Begbies Traynor, were appointed as administrators for the firm on 12 May. Loweth's clients included Crown Estates.
Hood and Davis are already in talks with three "major players" to sell the business.
Loweth was established in 1882 and employed 200-plus staff. Its last audited accounts for the year to 30 September 2002 show a turnover of £18.4m producing a pre-tax profit of £245,006. However, it had just £2,702 in cash and tangible fixed assets of £238,499, while the amount due to creditors within one year
was £4.8m.
Comparisons with the previous set of accounts are pointless, as they were for an 18-month period. The results prior to that were for the year to 31 March 2000; these show a turnover of £18.1m and a pre-tax profit
of £73,468.
Cash in hand stood at £270,237 and tangible fixed assets were worth £162,284, while £3.7m was owed to creditors within one year.
Hood told CJ the firm had been incurring monthly losses of £50,000 for some time.
He said: "This is a tragedy for a long-established name in the construction sector, and of course for its staff and directors. Loweth is just the latest victim of the ferocious price-competition which exists in construction.
"Efforts last year to find a buyer were frustrated by several factors, not the least of which is the issue of TUPE. Unfortunately, there are very few companies willing to take on the employment liabilities of such a large number of people, when margins are slim and the commercial risks are so high."
Sister firm Loweth Electrical continues to trade, but its biggest client is Loweth Ltd.