Oyster Marine Holdings in administration
In a statement today, KPMG Restructuring said administrators had been appointed to Oyster Marine Holdings Limited, the holding company of Oyster Yachts.
The firm, which – according to some reports – has two employees with headquarters in Southampton, and also trades from Wherstead in Suffolk, owns the Intellectual Property to all of the technical drawings and moulds used in the production of the yachts in the Oyster range
No other companies within the Oyster group form part of this particular administration. This includes Oyster Marine, Oyster Brokerage and Oyster Palma.
Neil Gostelow, partner at KPMG and joint administrator, commented: “Late last week, the company directors confirmed that they had been unable to secure the financial support they needed to continue to trade the business. Our immediate priority will be to seek a buyer for the business and its assets and would encourage any interested parties to contact us as soon as possible.”
Interested parties are advised to contact William Lewis, part of the Administration team on 07771 555540 or william.lewis@kpmg.co.uk
Managers at Oyster Yachts are continuing to look ‘for all opportunities available’ after the firm sent redundancy notices to all of its UK workforce, including employees at the Southampton boatyard at Saxon Wharf and the Wroxham base in Norfolk.
In the notice, Oyster CEO David Tydeman told employees that the company; “Had been unable to secure financial support to enable it to continue to trade at this time and it is now facing entering an insolvency procedure imminently.”
The company went on to say: “After considering all possible options, the Company has concluded that there is a risk that it will be unable to continue to provide work for all of its employees at all locations and that it is likely that it will have to make all of its employees redundant.
“The Company has run out of cash and is unable to pay employees for work. The Company decided to close all operations yesterday (for the immediate future) to prevent or minimise all loss to employees and all other creditors.”
Mr Tydeman added third party financial support was needed if the firm was to continue trading.
The company’s 160 staff at its Southampton boatyard at Saxon Wharf, along with its workers at Wroxham in Norfolk, are all expected to be affected. It is unclear how it will impact Palma, Majorca and Newport, USA.
Recently, Oyster Marine announced 2017 was a record year, with its order book reaching more than £80 million.
The company was sold in 2008 by founder Richard Matthews to private equity company Balmoral Capital for about £70 million. The acquisition included the Oyster Group companies Oyster Marine Ltd, Oyster Brokerage Ltd and Southampton Yacht Services Ltd.
