Pierse closes £30m UK contracting subsidiary

Irish giant Pierse is closing down its UK contracting subsidiary with the loss of nearly 60 jobs.

Pierse had two regional offices in Cheshire and Surrey servicing the general building and civil engineering sectors.

The UK division had a turnover of £29m for the year to April 2008 and suffered a pre-tax loss of £4.5m.

The demise of the UK operation does not affect the Irish parent, which is one of the country’s largest contractors with a turnover of £500m.

Accounting experts are now overseeing the wind-down of Pierse Contracting UK in a bid to raise as much cash as possible for creditors.

The last accounts show a work-in-progress value of £11.6m and £10.9m recoverable on contracts.

HR manager Matthew O’Dowd said: “The UK subsidiary is being completely wound down, but getting money back is difficult for everyone.

“The staff will be among the preferred creditors and the rest of the finer details are currently being sorted out.”