The High Court has appointed joint provisional liquidators to a construction firm that has installed large-scale cladding on a number of high-profile industrial and commercial buildings including Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport.
Architectural Aluminium Ltd, of Oak Road, Western Business Park, Dublin, is insolvent with losses of some €988,000 recorded up to October.
It is expected to incur further losses of some €1.6 million by the end of next month and creditors stand at some €5.2 million. It employs 133 people.
On Friday, the firm’s directors petitioned the court to appoint a provisional liquidator in order to safeguard its assets and in particular materials it has on various sites in Dublin, Kilkenny and Carlow.
There is a risk the cladding or other materials will be installed on near complete buildings, taken or damaged and leaving the company with no leverage with which to negotiate with contractors about the wind-down of contracts, the petition states.
The directors say the best way to ensure maximum value for the benefit of creditors is to negotiate an orderly wind-down of work with limited staff retained to carry it out. The directors believe joint liquidators will be in a better position to negotiate and manage a wind-down.
The firm says it is owed substantial sums for projects currently near installation stage but publication of its insolvency will cause the presentation of substantial contra charges which could be best dealt with by the provisional liquidators.
The petition states that since 2009/10, the company has been trading at a loss and has seen its balance sheet value decrease by more than €15 million.
At one point it had a turnover of €40 million, employed 200 and worked on major projects including Terminal 2, the former Bank of Ireland headquarters building in Baggot Street, Dublin and the Central Bank building in Dublin’s docklands. Its founder, chairman and 80 per cent shareholder is Joe Kenny while his son Simon Kenny is managing director.
In an affidavit, Simon Kenny said since its foundation 49 years ago the company has had several difficult times but always managed to find a way forward. It grew to be a leading player in the cladding trade but the recession from 2008 “took a heavy toll” with most of its projects deferred or cancelled, he said.
By 2014, turnover had dropped to below €6 million and following serious cutbacks, it lost some very experienced staff and to this day it is still difficult to recruit top-quality people, Mr Kenny said.
On December 14th, the board met and resolved to wind up the company.
Mr Justice Conor Dignam said he was satisfied it was likely the company would be wound up at the full hearing of the petition and in those circumstances he appointed John McStay and Tom Rogers of McStay Luby accountants as provisional liquidators. The full hearing of the petition, when creditors and others are notified, is next month.
