London builders merchant goes into administration

Steve Absolom and Nick Holloway from Interpath Advisory are now in control of Hitchcock & King Enterprises Limited.

Hitchcock & King has been trading for over 50 years and operates from six sites across London in Ashford, Burgh Heath, Fulham, Hammermsith, Streatham and Twickenham.

The company hadsfaced difficult trading conditions in recent times including the impact of rising costs and decreasing margins.

The directors sought to explore options, including a sale of the business, but a solvent solution was unable to be found and they took the decision to seek the appointment of administrators.

The Joint Administrators will continue to trade the business for a short period in order to sell the remaining stock and explore other options for the broader business.

They have retained 37 of the Company’s employees to assist them in trading but a further 27 members of staff have been made redundant.

Steve Absolom, managing director at Interpath Advisory and joint administrator, said: “Whilst Hitchcock & King will remain open for business in the short term to clear through the stocks of building supplies, there’s no doubt that this is an extremely sad day for this long-running family business and its team of hard-working, loyal employees.

“We will providing support to all those impacted by redundancy, including supporting them in making claims to the Redundancy Payments Service.”