Tag Archives: Ennstone Thistle

Argyll concerns deepen as troubled Ennstone sees director resign from Board

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Ennstone today (29th December) announced, without explanation, the resignation of non-executive director, Tim Ross from the Board of Ennstone Group, to take effect from 31st December 2008.

For Argyll has regularly covered recent developments in Ennstone’s situation which are of concern in Argyll. The Groups Scottish wing, Ennstone Thistle, operates four Argyll quarries – in Furnace, Dunbeg, Benderloch and Bonawe.

The Group recently sold off a major asset – its Concrete Products business – without making any significant improvement to its trading position and admits that January 2009 will be a testing time.

Ennstone problems deepen, with four Argyll quarries: Furnace, Dunbeg, Benderloch and Bonawe, under threat

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Ennstone Thistle, the Scottish wing of the troubled Ennstone Group, operates four quarries in Argyll – at Furnace, Dunbeg, Benderloch and Bonawe.

Yesterday (22nd December) Ennstone announced that it has sold ‘the trade and assets of Ennstone Concrete Products Limited’ (aka Concrete Products) to FP McCann Ltd. This is its precast concrete products business, and after its disposal, Ennstone will no longer have any involvement in the ongoing manufacture of concrete products.

As part of the disposal agreement, Ennstone has agreed a long-term supply of aggregates from certain of its quarries to the sites now disposed of and to a further FP McCann site. This agreement secures this particular market for aggregates from specific quarries.

However, when some debts were discharged within the sale agreement, only £3.3 million of the £8.4 million cash and debt free deal for Conrete Products remained to the Ennstone Group. These proceeds were required by its Board, in the absence of any additional credit, to provide short-term cash to meet the Group’s working capital needs.

Without the proceeds of this sale, Ennstone admits that:  ‘the Board is of the opinion that the Group would not have had sufficient liquidity to meet its financial commitments as they fell due.’  It says that in such circumstances: ‘the Board would have had to appoint administrators, liquidators or receivers’.

This is no more than a temporary respite. Regardless of the modest proceeds from this asset sale, the Group’s Board confirmed that, if no offer for the Group is made, the Group will require substantial additional funding. It will also need to reach an agreement with its debt providers on the restructuring of its existing facilities during January 2009.

Should these arrangements noit materialise, Ennstone is saying that: ‘it will not have sufficient liquidity to trade as a going concern and the Board will be forced to seek the appointment of receivers, administrators or liquidators’.

Given that the Group  – and those who, in different conditions, might have made an offer for it – are likewise finding finance hard to come by, the reality is that the company is looking at the likelihood of this outcome in January at the latest.

Ennstone, operator of four Argyll quarries, said to be ‘troubled’

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Shares in Ennstone, the company currently operating Argyll quarries at Furnace, Dunbeg, Benderloch and Bonawe, dropped sharply yesterday (16th December 2008) when it admitted it was in advanced talks to sell assets to meet cash obligations in the UK and the USA.

Ennstone runs a range of quarries, concrete plans and contract operations in the UK, Poland and the USA. It has said that it is now in breach of its USA banking facilities and, through a reciprocal arrangement, also in breach of its UK banking facilities.

This statement was made after the group suspended interest payments and finance lease repayments on its American banking facilities because of what is described as a ‘deteriorating cash position’.

The worldwide recession will also make asset disposals difficult as credit to fund potential buyers will be hard to find.

Ennstone says that its British and American financial sector creditors are considering whether to waive the breaches incurred. The company is looking to arrange restructuring in the USA and rescheduling specific debt repayments in the UK.

It has experienced a period of consistent expansion and acquisition. It operates in Scotland under the name Ennstone Thistle, employing over 400 people at 30 locations. It is one of the largest producers of aggregates, sand, gravel, asphalt and ready-mix concrete in the country.

Last month (November 2008) Ennstone announced that it was cutting around 1,200 jobs across the UK, saving £2 million in annual costs.

Ardchattan Community Council confront Bonawe Quarry users and operator Ennstone Thistle

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Ardchatton Community Council serves an area on the north shore of Loch Etive, reached by a narrow and winding single-track road between Bonawe Quarry and the main A82 road from Glasgow through Argyll to Fort William and Inverness. It is putting serious local concerns to Ennstone Thistle, operators of the historic Bonawe Quarry and to other companies using the quarry.

Residents have been made anxious by erratic lorry driving on this dangerous road and by the drivers’ habit of using their mobile phones while driving the route.

Ennstone Thistle says that the volume of traffic using the road has reduced significantly over the past two years and that it has installed additional passing bays on the road.

Iain MacDonald, Chair of Ardchattan Community Council defends Ennstone Thistle drivers, saying they are: ‘hugely professional and immensely courteous’ and says squarely that the problems lie with drivers from other companies coming to collect aggregates from the quarry. He is to contact all companies using the quarry to ask that they all adopt a single code of responsible practice on this road.

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