260 jobs go as Doyle Group folds

A total of 260 staff have been made redundant after Doyle Group, including John Doyle Construction, was placed into administration yesterday, Deloitte has said.

Deloitte said in a statement today that partners Richard Hawes, Dominic Wong and Chris Farrington have been appointed joint administrators to Doyle Plc, including its trading subsidiaries John Doyle Construction, Blythewood Plant and Ibex Interiors.

John Doyle Construction and Ibex Interiors have been closed, leading to the loss of 260 jobs, Deloitte said.

The administrator said John Doyle Construction had employed 139 staff and Ibex Interiors had employed 67 staff. Both businesses employed “a significant amount of sub-contract labour”, Deloitte added.

Deloitte said that “in the absence of any funding, there was no alternative but to close the Ibex Interiors and John Doyle Construction businesses, unfortunately leading to 260 staff being made redundant”.

However, the administrators said the Blythewood plant hire business would continue to trade, with a view to securing a sale of the business.

Of the 290 staff across Doyle Group, only 30 would remain in their jobs, Deloitte said.

Richard Hawes, joint administrator and partner in Deloitte’s restructuring services practice, said: “The group has suffered a prolonged period of difficult trading which has resulted in it being unable to meet its financial obligations.

“We are in discussions with several interested parties to sell various parts of the business. We will continue to trade the Blythewood business on a limited basis with a view to securing a sale as a going concern.”

Emma Bridges, of specialist credit agency Top Service, said it had received 59 reports on the firm in the past year regarding slow or non-payments.

Last September Doyle Group chairman Stef Stefanou said the group had started to build momentum after experiencing difficulties through the recession. “We have witnessed a lot more activity in all our sectors of operation and the momentum of that has gathered some real pace since March,” he said.

“To us this feels like the beginning of the end of the recession with further evidence of this being how busy the architectural practices we deal with currently are.”