Supermarket downturn hits Longcross

UK: A downturn in capital spending by supermarkets is blamed for the collapse of Longcross Construction.

The Surrey-based company was placed into administration on Tuesday (June 16). At the same time, the directors of Longcross Group Ltd also filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators to the parent company.

According to joint administrators Lee Manning and Matt Smith of Deloitte, no other companies within the Longcross group of companies have been affected by the administration. Its M&E services businesses LXE South Ltd and LXE North Ltd, as well as Longcross Fire and Security Ltd, continue to trade normally.

Longcross Construction announced a loss of £1,358,664 in the year to March 31 2014 on a turnover of £190.5m. Its work in the food retail market accounted for around 35% of its business. Major supermarket customers included Sainsburys, a retailer it had been working with since 1997, and Morrisons.