Member Article

Rochdale-based The Carcraft Group closes with 500 jobs lost

Administrators have been appointed to Rochdale-based Carcraft from Grant Thornton UK LLP.

The company, which reported an annual turnover of 120m and 500 employees across 10 sites nationwide, was making recording losses of £8m per year for a number of years.

In a statement from Grant Thornton it was said that the group operated in a competitive market suffering from a poor market reputation, lack of investment and a legacy of PPI claims.

Daniel Smith and Joe McLean, both partners at Grant Thornton UK LLP, have been appointed as administrators to the companies trading as Carcraft, the multi-site used car supermarket.

Automotive advisory partner at Grant Thornton, Taurn Mistry,said: “The business model has failed to evolve with the changes in the used vehicle remarketing sector and regulatory environment.

“Overall, this sector is still vibrant and represents a significant opportunity for the appropriate operating model to benefit from the growing and changing used vehicle market.”

Daniel Smith said: “With great regret a conclusion was reached that it is no longer viable to keep Carcraft in operation.

“In order to prevent further losses it has been agreed with management and creditors to cease operations with immediate effect.

“Carcraft will retain a skeleton staff to assist with the realisation of assets.

“In the event there are any approaches from interested parties post appointment we will react to these accordingly.

“It is our intention to explore with an alternative provider whether they could provide the roadside assistance element of the DHP cover at a favourable rate to former customers.”

Carcraft will cease trading and all employees have been informed and have been made redundant.

All employees were paid on 30 April 2015 for the month of April.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sophia Taha .