Rok suspends shares and enters administration

Building services and housing maintenance firm Rok has entered administration, putting the fate of 571 staff in the North West and North Wales in doubt.

Rok, which has offices in Liverpool, Bolton, Rochdale and Llandudno, told the stock exchange today that its share will be suspended with immediate effect.

In August, the firm reported its half year results, producing a £3m loss on sales of £308.1m. However, the company said it had a £435m order book and was enjoying "good momentum" in its social housing and construction businesses.

At its peak, Rok had a market capitalisation of £436m in 2007. The shares were suspended at 18.5p on Monday, valuing the business at £33.17m.

Clive Memmott, chief executive of Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said: "Our own Quarterly Economic Survey has been demonstrating the difficulties faced by construction firms and we've been highlighting the plight of many of our member businesses in this sector for several months now. This is why we've been arguing for critical infrastructure investment in this area and to some extent we've been successful.

"Once the current round of publicly funded construction work ends, there is nothing to immediately take its place so the situation could potentially get worse. We will continue to lobby for the delivery of much-needed capital projects and where funding has been cut from these, explore some of the new mechanisms that the Government is looking at."