Plumbing and heating firm Shackleton, Wintle and Lane enters administration

In business for more than 40 years and on the growth trail until the pandemic hit, Shackleton, Wintle and Lane Limited has declared itself the latest victim of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Cheltenham-based plumbing and heating specialist had a turnover of £9.2m and was enjoying a strong start to 2020 and year-on-year growth of 10 per cent, until the arrival of the global pandemic.

Now the Leckhampton-headquartered firm, which had grown to 120 staff by 2016, is in the hands of administrators Mazards and has revealed it laid off 69 of its staff at the end of September 2021.

Mark Boughey, joint administrator and part of the restructuring team at Mazars, said: ‘It is sad to see a company like Shackleton, Wintle and Lane Limited fail as a direct result of the prolonged impact of the Covid pandemic.

‘The directors had to make the difficult decision to cease trading and enter administration to prevent the position for creditors worsening and we are now working closely with the company to oversee the winding down of the business’s affairs for all of its financial stakeholders.’

In a statement Mazars said: ‘The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, with its associated lockdowns, saw an almost complete shutdown of the business resulting in losses of circa £400,000 during the year.

‘The pandemic continued to make its mark during 2021, with global material shortages, building materials price increases and a shortage of labour meaning that the company was unable to meet significantly increased demand for its services as restrictions eased.

‘As a result, the directors decided that the company had no option but to formally cease trading and be placed into administration.’

By Andrew Merrell

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