WYG agrees to buy back Northern Ireland business

Engineering consultant WYG has agreed to buy back its Northern Irish business from liquidators Grant Thornton, saving 90 jobs.

WYG said in a statement this morning that Grant Thornton had agreed to the sale, which is conditional on courts formally approving Grant Thornton’s appointment as liquidator.

Grant Thornton was appointed to liquidate the firm’s operations in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland last month, due to “extremely challenging trading conditions” in the regions.

WYG’s Northern Ireland business contributed £6.5m revenue and a £0.4m loss last year to the company last year.

WYG also announced this morning that it expected to report a “small operating profit” for the first half when it publishes its results for the six months ending 30 September 2012 on 29 November.

Paul Hamer, chief executive officer of WYG, said: “Having stated, on 7 June, that we were confident of returning the Group to operating profit in the near term, we are delighted to announce that this milestone in the Group’s turnaround will be reached in the first half of the current year.”