Cladding group Lakesmere enters administration

Lakesmere, one of the UK’s largest cladding firms with a North West office in Altrincham, has entered administration, with 109 people made redundant.

The group has worked on major projects in the region including the National Graphene Institute. Its headquarters are in Winchester.

It is understood that a number of departments have seen high levels of redundancies, including the marketing team, with project teams being kept on to finish jobs still in progress.

Administrators at Deloitte have now been appointed at Lakesmere Group, and said that “a number of unprofitable contracts” in its UK cladding division had led to financial difficulties at the firm.

The company’s McMullen Facades business, which last month won an £11m cladding package with Laing O’Rourke on its Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, will continue to trade, with the group looking to sell the business as a going concern.

According to Companies House documents, the group had 831 employees for the year to 31 January 2016. Turnover stood at £118.5m with a pre-tax profit of £3.5m.

Documents also show the group’s chief financial officer Mark Johnson left the business on 16 October.

Lakesmere confirmed the appointment of administrators in a statement on its website, which has since gone offline. Deloitte has been contacted for comment.

Lakesmere Group bought McMullen Facades out of administration in a pre-pack deal in 2012. McMullen Facades’ director Ted McMullen stepped up to the role of chief executive of Lakesmere Group in 2016.

Six senior executives, including McMullen and Johnson, completed a management buyout of the group in December 2015.