New Broom to sweep up after old Broom?

[Boreades]

According to Boating Business...

"Broom family knew nothing of insolvency"

After 112 years of family ownership, the Broom family sold the company to Mark Garner and Akis Chrisovelides. Six weeks later the boatbuilding part of the company went into insolvency with the loss of 70 jobs.

BROOM BUST: Boating Business spoke to Martin Broom on Monday September 13, about the insolvency of the boatbuilding arm of Broom Boats. He admitted to us he had been as surprised as the rest of the industry about the company going bust.

‘We’re extremely upset,’ he told us. ‘We had no idea. And we feel desperately sorry for everyone.’

Both the new owners are accountants, said Mr Broom. ‘One of them used to work for our accountants, so they knew the history and the position of the company,’ he added.

Asked if this was an asset strip operation, Mr Broom would only say: ‘Only time will tell.’ He added he hoped they would open the boatbuilding company again in the future.

But there is a ray of light in that there is likely to be work around for most of the workforce. ‘They are a highly skilled workforce,’ said Mr Broom, ‘and most should find work locally in or out of the boatbuilding industry.’

The Brooms are unlikely to appear at the PSP Southampton Boat Show. ‘We may go off on holiday,’ said Mr Broom.

http://www.boatingbusiness.com/news101/broom-family-knew-nothing-of-insolvency

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If both the new owners are accountants, are they incompetent, or are there other motives?

 

[[2068]]

They have turned a couple of businesses around in the past.
Fingers crossed that this is the game plan this time around as well, maybe with a smaller workforce and reduced range.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

You don't buy any company, let alone one the size of Broom, without doing diligence on the accounts and also, you dont buy a company without having a strategy for it's future. The new owners must have been aware of the loss making side of the Broom business before they bought it, especially as one of them had previous knowledge of it's accounts, and they must have had a pretty good idea of what they were going to do with the company. I would be gobsmacked if these 2 characters went into the company thinking they were going to keep the manufacturing side going and 6 weeks later, changed their mind and decided to close it. If it happened like that, then they are idiots. They obviously had a plan to keep the profitable side of the business and strip the assets from the non profitable side. I would be surprised if Martin Broom didn't have any idea that this was going to happen and I'm also surprised that he didn't seek some kind of assurance that the workforce would continue to be employed. I think his comment regarding their ability to find other work is cold comfort to them

 

[PowerYachtBlog]

In this interview if I read between the lines, it is fairly obvious he knows about it all. Even that line in the end just sums it up. Will they open again only time will tell!

 

[PaulGooch]

<snip> Boating Business spoke to Martin Broom on Monday September 13 <snip>

As they have the ability to conduct interviews in the future, surely they already know if the business will build boats again ?

 

[kcrane]

As they have the ability to conduct interviews in the future, surely they already know if the business will build boats again ?

Nicely spotted

 

[mjf]

Monday September 13

Yes what's that all about - I did wonder if it was a scam thread