Sidcot Group in administration before sale

It was reported by letsrecycle.com that the trade and assets of the Sidcot Group, which included its mill in Chesterfield (see letsrecycle.com story) had been sold.

Now administrators KPMG have issued a statement.

When contacted for comment by letsrecycle.com joint administrators Andrew Stone and David Costley-Wood from KPMG said that they completed a pre-pack sale of Sidcot Group in a deal that has saved more than 100 jobs.

Staff

Upon appointment, the administrators facilitated a pre-pack sale of the business and assets of the group to trade purchaser Northwood. The sale saw 104 staff employed by the group transfer to the purchaser with the business’s owner-directors departing.

Andrew Stone, joint administrator and director at KPMG, said: “Given the ongoing pressures of an increasingly competitive market and the declining availability of the Group’s working capital, it quickly became apparent that a solvent solution could not be found. As such, we’re pleased to have secured a positive future for the business’s employees, safeguarding roles across its operations in a relatively short timeframe.”

Operations

The deal for the Sidcot Group consists of the recycled tissue mill at Chesterfield and the converting operations of Matryx (paper products) , Techcel (folded products) and Negociar (trade and supply) being sold to Northwood. This has propelled Northwood to be a larger UK supplier of away from home (AFH) tissue products, recycling – when its Lancaster mill is included – more than 100,000 tonnes a year of tissue-making grades in the UK, largely consisting of office papers.

According to the UK’s official record, the Gazette, Sidcot Group (Chesterfield Mill) Limited went into administration on 19th September and the accountancy firm KPMG were appointed.

Some in the waste paper sector have expressed concern that creditors, including suppliers of waste paper to the former Sidcot business, could go unpaid or lose financially because of the administration.

German paper manufacturer Wepa Hygieneprodukte GmbH ‘agreed a charge’ with the company in March and its position now is unclear. Wepa however had no shares or other involvement with the company.