Daniel administrators safeguard jobs
Almost 1,000 jobs look set to be safeguarded at Daniel Contractors after two of its three main customers reached an agreement with administrators to continue using its services.
The civil engineering business will continue to trade while administrators seek an alternative service provider willing to take on contracts providing work for 990 people with United Utilities and Bristol Water.
Around 400 Daniel Contractors employees servicing a contract with Welsh Water have already transferred to Enterprise Utility Services.
However, administrators say the group's financial situation has led to 81 redundancies at Daniel Contractors relating to the company's smaller contracts and some head office functions, with a further 43 redundancies from its Land & Marine Project Engineering division.
The redundancies include 61 staff in the north west, 57 at Daniel Contractors and four at Land & Marine.
Bill Dawson and Dan Butters, partners at Deloitte, were appointed joint administrators to Warrington-based Daniel Contractors and subsidiary Land & Marine Project Engineering this week.
Daniel Contractors' main contracts are for utility works. The group had a turnover of £117.5m in 2011, producing a pre-tax profit of £1.4m. Daniel had net assets of £10.4m.
Six hundred out of the group's 1,449 employees are in the North West.
Administrators are pursuing interest in other areas of the business, including the possibility of selling the Land & Marine Project Engineering business.
Bill Dawson, Joint Administrator and partner in Deloitte's Restructuring Services team, said: "We have managed to safeguard most of the jobs and are looking to pursue further deals which could help to save more jobs.
"However, we regret that the financial situation of the group has meant that a number of redundancies have had to be made."
The company was founded in 1994 by brothers George and Conal Daniel.