Easy Fit Conservatories in £1m Crisis
A conservatory firm in the Black Country has gone into administration amid debts of more than £1million, leaving more than 60 jobs at risk.
Worried customers and contractors – some of whom say they are owed thousands – have been attempting to contact Easy Fit Conservatories in Walsall.
Birmingham-based accountants PKF have been appointed to oversee the administration of the company, which was shirt sponsor at Walsall FC for two seasons.
They say at least one potential buyer – an unnamed supplier – has expressed an interest in the business in West Bromwich Road, Tame Bridge.
PKF partner Jon Newell said the firm had 34 staff and a similar number of regular sub-contractors, who built and fitted the conservatories. He said employees’ last scheduled pay cheques had not cleared and that those owed money were unlikely to recoup any substantial amount.
“There are a lot of creditors, and any money they get back will be some time in the future, and it won’t be very much,” he said.
“It doesn’t look like there are a huge number of customers who have deposits with the company but even if there are only one or two, it’s a tragedy for them.”
He said employees’ only realistic hope of securing some of the wages they are owed would be through the government’s redundancy scheme. He said he hoped any future owner would honour customer deposits and retain staff.
A worker at a nearby firm, who did not want to be named, said angry people had been turning up at Easy Fit. “There was a chap here this morning who said he was a fitter for them and was owed more than £20,000,” he said.
There was another old bloke who came along and said he’d put down £200 for a conservatory. For this to happen so close to Christmas is terrible.”
Source: Express & Star
