11.12.2025

Administration for Warwick Ward

UK sales and rental company Warwick Ward (machinery) Ltd has confirmed the appointment of an Insolvency administrator, after attempts to refinance or sell the business as a going concern. Most of the company’s 89 employees have been laid off, and it looks as though liquidation is the most likely outcome.

The company is based in Barnsley, Yorkshire, with a second location in the area in Tankersley, along with two depots, one for the English Midlands in Bromsgrove near Birmingham and one for the South in Harlow, Essex. The company was founded in 1970 by Warwick Ward, and is one of the largest independent Case dealers in Europe, while also handling Faresin telehandlers since last June, along with Ausa sub compact telehandlers, forklifts and dumpers with materials processing equipment from Terex and Keestrack.

The business is managed by Warwick’s son’s Ashley and Matthew, with revenues in 2024 were £45.3 million, down from more than £53 million in 2023, but suffered a pre-tax loss of £1.27 million. The company has a tangible net worth of £6.4 million and, oddly, a positive working capital as of September 2024.

The business was wholly owned by the Ward family until 2023, when an Employee Ownership Trust was set up.

Joint administrators
The insolvency practitioners handling the administration are James Richard Clark and James Ronald Lumb, both of Interpath, 4th Floor, Tailors Corner Thirsk Row, Leeds, LS1 4DP

Joint administrator James Lumb said: “With strong economic headwinds continuing to impact the construction and groundworks market, specialist plant hire operators up and down the country are coming under increased financial pressure. It’s a tremendous shame that these challenges have proven to be so devastating for Warwick Ward, which had a long and proud heritage across South Yorkshire and beyond.”

“Our immediate priority will be to support all those workers impacted by redundancy, while we also explore options for the Company’s assets.”

The video below shows the company’s main facility