THE McCORMICK Macnaughton Caterpillar dealership in the Republic has been taken over by Canadian firm Finning, but the group’s rental businesses have ceased trading.
Assets belonging to three rental-related companies in the McCormick Macnaughton group, including three premises, will be sold off at an auction scheduled for September 4th.
Management at Finning, the world’s largest Caterpillar dealer, took over the running of the dealership in west Dublin on Monday, with staff training taking place over the weekend.
General manager Seán Madigan said that all 69 jobs were safe at the moment. “We are still reviewing the business . . . We may even look to recruit,” he said.
McCormick Macnaughton, which has been in business for more than 60 years, had been the country’s main dealer in the machinery brand, but ran into financial difficulty earlier this year. As well as being appointed as the Caterpillar dealer for the Republic, Finning has acquired assets from McCormick Macnaughton for €2.7 million. This includes equipment and specialist tools but not premises.
While Finning is operating from the company’s recently completed office complex at Aerodrome Business Park, Mr Madigan said the premises would not be the company’s long-term home.
Finning’s takeover of the Caterpillar business comes after the company took over McCormick Macnaughton’s Northern Ireland Caterpillar dealership last week.
Mr Madigan said the company had no interest in the McCormick Macnaughton rental business in the Republic, but was focusing on the construction and power generator side of the business.
The Vancouver-based company has been a Caterpillar distributor since 1933, and has operations in western Canada, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, Britain and now Ireland.
Ulster Bank appointed a receiver to three other companies controlled by the Macnaughton family two weeks ago in an effort to recover debts. The three companies are two rental companies, Mac Rental Ltd, Mac Rental Holdings and Mancasal Ltd, a property holding company. Assets belonging to these companies, and their operations in Dublin, Galway and Cork, will be sold at an auction on September 4th organised by Wilson Auctioneers.
McCormick Macnaughton is owned by businessman Malcolm Macnaughton and has been in existence for more than 60 years. It has branches in Dublin, Cork and Lisburn. Earlier this year, the company moved to a new head office complex at Aerodrome Business Park at Rathcoole, off the Naas Road in Dublin, moving from its well-known premises near the Red Cow roundabout.
The site was developed just as the property market was beginning to decline, while the company’s core business – the sale and rental of construction machinery – was seriously affected by the collapse in the construction sector.
The most recent accounts filed for the company show that the debts of McCormick Macnaughton are guaranteed by the group’s overall company, Ballymana Holdings, which made a loss of €13 million in 2008 – compared to a profit of €7 million the previous year, as turnover plummeted 35 per cent to €123 million.
