Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

Ecomold is a long established plastic injection moulding company which specialises in providing components for the automotive industry. Amongst a wide customer base, its customers include many well known global automotive brands.

The company, which was founded in 1924, has bases in Southend and also Dunstable in Bedfordshire, employing a total of 471 across its East of England bases. There have been no redudancies among its 670 UK workforce and the administrators say they are hopeful that the need for lay-offs will be avoided by securing an early sale for the business.

Originally part of packaging giant, Linpac, the business was the subject of an MBI in 2005 and rebranded as Ecomold in August of that year.

James Money and Mark Orton of KPMG Restructuring were appointed as joint administrators of Ecomold on 29 November, following an application by the directors.

A statement from the administrators said: “The competitive nature of the sector has led to significant trading losses. Despite the best efforts of management, cash flow difficulties ultimately forced the directors to request the appointment of administrators.”

Until last summer the company operated four facilities including one near Tarragona in Spain, when the decision was taken to consolidate operations in the UK.

Joint administrator and KPMG Restructuring director, James Money, said: “With its highly skilled and experienced workforce Ecomold has a fantastic reputation in the marketplace and we expect a lot of interest in the business.

“As a result, we are confident that we can continue to trade the business with a view to securing a quick sale. We welcome any party who may have an interest in acquiring the business to make early contact with us.”