Oil and gas company enters liquidation with 60 jobs at risk

An oil and gas company has entered liquidation with 60 people facing the loss of their jobs.

Epic International is an engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning business and has appointed Norwich liquidators McTear Williams & Wood to sell off the company's assets.

The Vanguard Road based Great Yarmouth company currently employs eight office staff as well as 12 offshore staff and 40 offshore contractors who will be made redundant on 7 October if a buyer/s for the business and assets cannot be found.  A spokesman for McTear Williams & Wood has said that they have already seen a great deal of interest from third parties wanting to purchase the assets of the company.

The company which was founded in 2000 has faced a rough couple of years according to its latest accounts.  Records made up to April 2018 show that the company was knocked by huge depreciations in his fixed assets such as machinery, vehicles and computer equipment.  Between May 2017 and April 2018 the company's assets devalued by an excess of £280,000 - largely driven by a £77,811 fall in its plant and machinery value.  Despite reducing costs associated with the assets the company still saw its net book value drop from £275,233 in 2017 to £152,027 in 2018.  The business was further stung by debts which outweighed the amount it was owed by creditors.

In 2018 the amount of debt Epic International had to pay within a year was in excess of £1.7m compared to £740,426 the year prior.  The previous year thus was offset by creditors to the company with Epic owed a little over £1m.  Despite the fact its creditors owed it more - at £1.67m in 2018 - its debts still outweighed this figure.  The business's bank account was similarly struggling with just £588 recorded for cash in hand.  However, creditors to the business are unlikely to be left unpaid as the stocks and assets of the business combined outweigh the debts owed by £225,618. 

Any parties interested in buying the assets of the company should contact Tony Harrison on 01603 877540 or tonyharrison@mw-w.com

Debtor or creditor enquiries should be directed to 01603 877540 or bethanpage@mw-w.com

www.edp24.co.uk
27 September 2019