Efforts by the management and staff of a major Scottish farm supplier with Elgin connections have failed with the company going into administration.
Over 160 employees of the McArthur Group, who supply agricultural, fencing and building products, have been made redundant with the news broken to staff – including ten at Pinefield Industrial Estate in Elgin – on Thursday afternoon.
In May the firm completed a restructuring of its business in a deal that was said to have enabled the creation of a “solid platform for the future of the business” according to managing director Sam McArthur.
At that time there were high hopes for the company that had been trading for over 170 years.
However, efforts by staff and management since then have failed to overcome “unsustainable pressure” on cashflow and that led to Thursday’s announcement.
A spokesman for administrators FRP Advisory said: “Regrettably, upon entering administration the joint administrators have had to cease trading resulting in the immediate redundancies of 162 of the 183 staff employed at the date of their appointment.”
Staff employed by the company are based in Coatbridge as well as Elgin and at four centres south of the border.
The 21 remaining staff will remain during the administration process to assist in liaising with customers and suppliers and with the realisation of assets.