The jobs of 480 workers have been saved after a court approved a rescue plan for Westport-based electrical contractor Instrotec.
Approving the plan drawn up by examiner Joe Walsh of JW Accountants, Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds complimented the pragmatic attitude taken by the Revenue Commissioners in deciding to accept the deferment of significant payments due to them in order to save so many jobs.
The court heard that Instrotec was a specialist electrical and instrumentation contractor working on complex projects such as data centres, semiconductor and pharmaceutical facilities as well as oil and gas plants in Ireland and Europe.
It has 172 apprentices on its books, making it one of the largest trainers of skilled workers in the State.
RM Block
Revenues had more than trebled in recent years from €11.7 million in 2020 to €39.2 million in 2023 as the company worked on contracts with industry leaders including Intel, Pfizer, Microsoft, Eli Lilly and MSD.
The company got into trouble last year after delays and cost overruns on three specific projects, according to an independent report prepared by Cormac Mohan, an accountant at Fitzwilliam Corporate, which said the business, which went into examinership in May, had a reasonable chance of survival.
The three projects were Eli Lilly’s new plant in Limerick, a data centre project in Amsterdam and a Microsoft development in Sweden.
Ms Justice Reynolds said the court considered the examiner’s scheme of arrangement fair and equitable to all parties involved and would protect jobs going forward. She said Revenue’s attitude was very helpful in ensuring survival of the company.
The court was told that Revenue was not objecting to the scheme of rescue arrangement proposed by Mr Walsh. Counsel for Revenue said the jobs included apprentices and those employed in external agency contracts.
Instrotec which also controls three international subsidiaries in Germany, Denmark and the UK, was founded in 2000 by Donal Johnston and Donna Johnston who have run the business for 25 years.
Donal, a time served electrician with extensive instrumentation and control experience, had identified an opportunity in the market for a specialist contractor in the field of electrical instrumentation and instrument pipe fitting.
Instrotec quickly established a reputation in the growing pharmaceutical and microprocessor manufacturing sectors as the foremost contractor for instrumentation and control systems.
In recent years it had expanded on its existing electrical portfolio to establish a proven track record in the installation of various low and medium voltage electrical systems across a broad range of sectors. That allowed the Mayo business to provide an all-encompassing service across instrumentation and control, building management and industrial electrical systems.
