280 workers left jobless in Great Yarmouth as Red7Marine Group goes into administration

About 280 workers have been left out of work in Great Yarmouth after Red7Marine Group went into administration.

As Tom Jack, Sam Woodward and John Sumpton of Ernst Young were appointed joint administrators of the company, news was broken to staff this morning.

A sale of its inland marine engineering services division was immediately agreed to a private investor but Red7Marine Offshore, which has two sites in Yarmouth and provides energy sector services, did not form part of the sale.

It is understood that in addition to nearly 50 directly employed staff, the total number affected will approach 280 with the inclusion of crew which manned the firm’s three vessels and 150 sub-contracted divers.


(Photo: Courtesy of Eastern Daily Press)

Nine employees have been retained by offshore in Yarmouth to help the administrators in winding down the business and realising value in the assets.

Administrator Mr Jack said: “In the period leading up to the administration, the group’s cash flows came under significant strain due to falling demand for its services as a result of the collapse of the oil price, ongoing investment in the group’s fleet, and a number of unexpected charges.

“Despite attempts to recapitalise the group, the directors were unable to do so and have been seeking alternative investment to support a turnaround of the business. This was not possible to achieve on a solvent basis and the group has therefore been placed into administration by the directors.”

He said the sale of the inland division had secured the future of 54 employees.

He said: “It is with regret that the offshore business could not be sold and has ceased trading. We will support all employees affected by redundancy at this difficult time, including helping them to make claims for amounts owing to them from the Redundancy Payments Service.”

The group had seemed to be on an upward path after a major cash injection from Perwyn Limited, a private equity investor, in 2013..

A key aim had been to develop its subsea operations in the North Sea driven by diving expertise.

As recently as autumn 2014, before the oil market crisis gripped, Red7Marine Offshore reported its investment in a fleet of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to expand its North Sea operations.

A month earlier, the company had also announced the acquisition of a new saturation diving vessel, Red7Alliance.

(Source: Eastern Daily Press)

Location: Great Yarmouth, UK