Capital Cooling closes service division
22nd December 2017
UK: Edinburgh-based Capital Cooling is to close its service division in a pre-pack administration deal.
The company, which is rumoured to have been struggling financially for a number of months, is reported to have made around 50 service division personnel redundant on Wednesday (December 20). When contacted, managing director James Anderson did not confirm the number of redundancies, but countered that this action had saved 60 jobs.
The redundancies are part of a restructuring of the business which is said to be being supported by an unnamed financial backer.
In an announcement, dated December 18, the company revealed that the service division had suffered “due to difficult trading conditions and strong competition” in the market. “The medium-term outlook is that these specific service division-related difficulties will continue, and hence these services will be wound down,” it said.
Under the terms of the pre-pack administration, certain Capital Cooling liabilities will transfer to the administrator KPMG.
“The corporate restructuring will allow Capital Cooling to continue to operate as normal and build a strong and flourishing business for the future,” the company statement said. “It will secure jobs, preserve the company’s brand, provide the business with a far stronger balance sheet and protect the interests of its employees going forward.”
In its most recently available accounts for the calendar year 2015, Capital Cooling made a profit after tax of £347,000 on a turnover of £16.8m. At that time it had 141 employees.
James Anderson became MD in June after company founder Alister Mclean stepped back from the day-to-day running of the business.
Established in 1996, Capital Cooling grew swiftly from a local refrigeration business to a manufacturer, supplier, installer and maintainer of refrigeration equipment, operating across the UK. In addition to its Broxburn, Edinburgh headquarters, it operates from locations in Warrington and Northampton.
As well as manufacturing its own brand of commercial refrigeration equipment, it sells a range of equipment from the likes of Foster, True Refrigeration, Scotsman, Hoshizaki, ISA, Pastorkalt and Pastorfrigor.
Its achievements in recent years were recognised with Contractor of the Year awards from both RAC and ACR News magazines. Capital Cooling has also been recognised as one of Scotland’s top 300 SME’s for three consecutive years. On a personal level, founder Alister McLean received recognition for his contribution to the industry with both the Fred Jamieson and Kooltech awards for Industry achievement.
UPDATE 24/12/17: Capital Cooling business sold for £300k
Capital Cooling will continue as a cabinet sales company under the name Capital Cooling Refrigeration Ltd, having been bought by new owners for £300,000. Read more…
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Capital Cooling secures £80,000 grant – 18 September 2015
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Capital Cooling to build £1.5m extension – 30 April 2015
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