Johnston Carmichael named administrator of Balgownie Ltd

Johnston Carmichael has been appointed administrator of north east agricultural machinery businesses Balgownie Limited and Balgownie Rentals Limited. 

Richard Bathgate and Graeme Bain are handling the process as joint administrators.

Balgownie, which has provided machinery to the agricultural, construction and ground care industries in the North of Scotland since 1907, has recently identified cash flow difficulties. 

The news has resulted in 24 redundancies, with 17 employees being retained to assist the joint administrators in marketing and selling the company’s assets. 

Bathgate and Bain are currently assessing the stock and asset positions at the company’s Inverurie and Turriff depots to gauge whether the business may be in a position to continue some limited trading in the short-term under the administrators’ control, all while a purchaser is sought for the business as a going concern. 

Mike Singer, MD of Balgownie Ltd, said: “As a result of cash flow issues, the board of directors is deeply saddened to announce that we have had to make the difficult decision to appoint administrators to the company with immediate effect.”

Bathgate added: “Unfortunately, following the identification of cash flow difficulties, the board of directors has had to place both Balgownie Limited and Balgownie Rentals Limited into administration.” 

“I would encourage any party who may be interested in acquiring the business and its assets to contact Neil Woodgreaves of Johnston Carmichael. This is an opportunity to acquire the business and assets of a highly respected, long-established business which operates at its wholly-owned trading premises in Inverurie and Turriff, Aberdeenshire.”

Any amounts outstanding to suppliers at the date of administration will rank as a claim against the company in administration. 

Creditors will shortly receive a formal, written notification of the administration and the process for lodging a claim against the company.