17.07.2023
Moratorium for Aspire UPDATED
UK rental company Aspire has filed for protection from its creditors via a 'Notice of Intention to Appoint an Administrator'.
This gives the company a 10 day period in which to raise finds or find an investor to provide additional liquidity that will allow the company to keep going without entering administration.
UPDATE: The company filed another Notice of Intention to File ... on July 24th, which we assume gives it another 10 days to organise a recovery plan. aoan the Same day one of its two owners / directors Simon Dunn set up a new company - Action Platforms Ltd at a residential address in nearby Audenshaw.
Aspire has just completed its 2023 financial year, in 2022 it had a negative working capital of £4.3 million, total assets of £14.5 million and a tangible net worth of £560,000. We understand that the company has a debt pile in the region fo £8 million. And needs an injection of between two and three million to properly restructure its financial position.
A quick look at its credtor ratings suggests that it has not been paying its suppliers properly since 2020, leaving it with a suggested credit limit of zero. RBS Invoice Finance has a charge over the company’s assets and can pull its credit line at any time. From the paperwork we have seen, the Notice was filed last week, which gives the company until July 21st or 24th to either appoint an administrator or, if has found an alternative solution - withdraw the notice.
The company was
established in the summer of 2018 by Vincent Rourke who had previously been head of sales at the OneCall division of HSS and Simon Dunn - (who was reappointed as a director last month). In August 2020 the company acquired the alloy tower and aerial lift rental operations of
London Tower Services (LTS) and moved into a new London facility the following year. Last year it
made it into the Sunday Times 100 fastest growing private companies with revenues of around £14 million.
We contacted the company last week and again over the weekend asking for a statement or comment, but so far we have received no response. We will of course update this item as soon as we do.
Vertikal Comment
Given the fact that the company is going through a challenging process, we would rather hold off on making a full comment. However it is possible that a pre-pack administration will be the result of any rescue, a process which always seems grossly unfair on a company's creditors and the industry at large.
But let's not pre-judge things.
The realist
Fastest growing often means riskiest borrowers, particularly in rental. Excess debt doesn’t work in rental when the economy slows or there is excess competition ( too much supply)
.......
Any business that can't pay its suppliers in a timely manner should be wound down. The same should apply to a hire companies customers!
Why does the hire industry allow itself be abused by contractors who demand the highest standards, and then think nothing of holding payment for 90, 120 days, and longer.
However, as long as hire companies who chase orders at any price without any due diligence on a customer, or get another hire companies machines kicked off a site with lower rates, remain in the industry, nothing is going to change.
Longstaff retired
Does the Times print the 100 Fastest Collapsing company list?
To quote a valid soundbite given to me once by Barry Brady many years ago:
"You can't defy gravity!"
Any Clown can buy the equipment, that's the easy part. Getting it out on hire for a commercially viable price is the hard part. Keeping it out, getting paid and paying all the staff, utilities & suppliers is the hardest part.
To provide you with my own soundbite:
"The candle that burns twice as bright...... only burns for half as long!"
Shan Dee
What a disastrous outcome, imagine being employed not knowing if you are getting paid at the end of the month. All those families not being fed. From Sunday Times top 100 growing to knocking a load of other companies for millions & potentially dragging them down with them. What a shame....