Auto Windscreens enters administration after winding-up petition

Auto Windscreens, the national chain of car glass repair and replacement specialists, has entered administration, after first reporting financial difficulties a little over a week ago.

A team from financial services company, Deloitte, has been appointed as administrators and have said that they are looking to keep the company trading while they carry out a search for potential buyers.

A representative of the team, Matt Cowlishaw, said the company had suffered from the loss of a major client and IT delays caused by a restructuring programme, and had been looking at financing options to keep the business going. A winding up petition filed by a creditor in the last week, however, left them no choice but to enter administration.

"We are now in urgent discussions with the key stakeholders and interested parties in an attempt to save the business," said Mr Cowlishaw. "We have provided the employees with full briefings and have set up a dedicated employee hotline to help them understand their position."

The Chesterfield-based company has 68 outlets across the UK and 550 mobile units. It has a distribution centre based in Birmingham as well as a central call-centre, employing 1,100 staff in total and generating an annual turnover of around £63 million.

It was bought by its managing director, Peter Fox, and German investment fund, Moguntia Invest, in 2009, who intended to completely overhaul it with the aim of increasing efficiency, but accounts have yet to be filed.

Also see our Auto Windscreens article of 6th February 2011, where we warned the company was in financial difficulty.

Update 25 Feb, 2011: Auto Windscreens closing down

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