15.03.2010
The end of the road for Winterlift?
Manchester, UK based crane rental company Winterlift has appointed an administrator and ceased trading.
Deloitte was appointed as administrator on Friday and has chosen to cease trading while it evaluates the situation. Owners and managers Andrew and Peter Winter are no longer involved in the business according to a representative of the administrators.
The company was founded in 1999 and acquired Yorkshire Crane Hire of Sheffield in late 2008, making it the 14th largest crane rental company in the UK and Ireland, with a fleet of 42 mobile cranes with capacities up to 500 tonnes, according to Cranes &Access top 30 crane rental companies 2009.
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Winterlift cranes on a big tandem lift
Yorkshire Crane hire is not officially in administration, but Deloitte said that it is included in the Winterlift administration in terms of trading activity.
Vertikal Comment
The UK crane rental industry is going through one of its toughest periods ever, with this the third sizeable company to go into administration so far this year. The industry is in danger of loosing a number of well run companies as banks begin to get tough, particularly with those with a positive net worth but negative working capital.
John Tomsonn
This just shows how volatile the lifting industry is . It's nit banks that are the problem it's the large companies holding onto money and orders thus meaning that payments are coming out to companies further down the food chain much slower giving all these companies cash flow problems.
On top of this rates have gone lower and costs have gone higher this is innevetable and they will not be the last who will be next. Mga northwest ?, ainscough ? King lifting ? Hewden ?
Watch this space