Grant Thornton made administrator of Quinn Radiators

Close to 300 workers in have lost their jobs in Wales, following the collapse into administration of Quinn Radiators. The radiator company appointed Grant Thornton to lead the process, having struggled financially for a number of years.

With its factory based in Newport, Quinn Radiators has been one of Europe’s largest manufacturers of round-top radiators for more than 35 years. The factory has two production lines with capacity to produce 3.5 million domestic radiators a year.

However, despite its bullish rate of production, the firm has endured a difficult period of late. In 2016, the financial state of the company prompted the Welsh Government to give Quinn Radiators a £3 million loan, aimed at creating 120 jobs and safeguarding a further 290.

Now, employing 300 staff, Quinn Radiators has fallen into administration, leading to the redundancy of all but 20 team members. The firm cited an on-going challenge of remaining competitive in the face of increasing raw material prices and cheaper imported brands as a key factor in its collapse. The remaining workers will now assist Alistair Wardell, Trevor O'Sullivan and Matthew Richards – the joint administrators from Grant Thornton – as they search for a buyer of the firm’s remaining assets.

Wardell commented, “Over the past months, the directors actively sought a buyer for the company in an effort to preserve jobs and keep the business in the UK. These discussions ceased last week without success and with unsustainable losses continuing the directors took the difficult decision to appoint administrators, resulting in the immediate redundancy of circa 280 employees."

Wardell was also part of the team assigned from Grant Thornton to oversee the administration of the so-called ‘Welsh Carillion’, earlier in 2019. The downfall of Dawnus resulted in 700 people losing their jobs, with the contractor having operated throughout the UK from six regional offices and 44 construction sites. The firm has since auctioned 850 different types of equipment from its site in Swansea under Grant Thornton’s watch.

Remarking on the insolvency of Quinn Radiators, meanwhile, Newport West AM Jane Bryant said the "devastating news" came "out of the blue", before announcing an event planned for later in the month to help workers who have lost their jobs. Staff were only told of the news as they arrived for work on the morning of Monday the 10th of June, via an unaddressed letter from the administrators.

Bryant added, "It has been handled dreadfully by the company and I have huge sympathy with all the staff who have been a loyal workforce over many years."

Last week Grant Thornton was also appointed to oversee the administration of specialist metal producer Metalysis.