400 jobs lost as J Tomlinson files for administration

J Tomlinson Limited appears set to file for administration – with 400 staff let go.  

The construction company, based in Beeston, Nottingham, appears to have filed a ‘notice of intention to appoint an administrator’ with the Companies Court today (10 July). 

J Tomlinson retained counsel from London law firm, Browne Jacobson LLP. 

Raj Mittal and Nathan Jones of corporate restructuring firm, FRP Advisory, are the joint administrators of the company. 

The company was founded by the Tomlinson family in the 1950s, as an electrical contracting business focused on commercial contracts.   

More recently its services span a range of sectors and include construction and engineering, refurbishment, renewable energy, repairs and maintenance, and facilities management. 

J Tomlinson operates from a network of regional offices in the East Midlands, West Midlands, Central and Northern England, and Yorkshire.  

It employed approximately 400 staff, most of which have been made redundant. Some will be retained in the short-term to assist administrators.  

It is understood ‘the pandemic, inflation, cashflow pressures, and an unsuccessful attempt to secure investment’ forced the decision by the Board to file a notice of intention to appoint an administrator. 

“Following Covid, the business has suffered from the prevailing headwinds seen across the construction sector, including severe inflationary pressure on costs,” wrote FRP. 

CEO Mark Davis thanked staff, customers, and supply chain partners for their support. 

“It is with a heavy heart that I have to announce that J Tomlinson Ltd will be filing a notice of intention to the court today to enter into administration, the proposed administrator will be FRP Advisory, which we anticipate will take place later today,” said Davis.  

“JTL have a number of divisions across Facilities Management, Regeneration, Refurbishment, Engineering Services, and Care. It is the latter division which has been battling long term contracts with hyperinflation, schemes priced pre-covid which ultimately has impaired the groups cash-flow.   

“We as a board have worked tirelessly to attract additional overall finance into the group to invest for the future. Sadly today, we have to announce we have been unsuccessful in this regard. 

“Since COVID impacted the world and the local business community, we have worked tremendously hard to build the JTL brand across our chosen sectors with great success which is testament to all our people.  

“We have many very long service colleagues who have spent a good portion of their lives supporting our business, along with their family and friends, we hoped we would end their journey with a bright future for the next generation, sadly we have run out of time.  

“I would like to express my gratitude to the JTL family for their proactive attitude to our customers, to each other and the supply chain who have supported us over a long period of trading and especially post covid and the impact this outcome will have on them, and their business and their employees. 

“We have employees with 30 years’ time invested and customers lasting 15-20 years which is incredible and tragic. 

“We have done our upmost to communicate timely and provide the support to our teams which is very difficult when decisions of this magnitude are taken and implemented in the tightest of timelines. 

“We will do our utmost to provide support and guidance throughout the forthcoming difficult period.” 

Court filings also appear to show a claim against J Tomlinson on 3 July by Chesterfield contractor, NT Killingley Ltd, retaining counsel from solicitors Holmes & Hills.  

For the year ended 30 September 2021, turnover for J Tomlinson rose from £94.8 million in 2020 to £106.2 million.  

However, due to the pandemic the company saw delayed and postponed planned projects, incurring an operating loss of £616,000 that year (FY2020: £741,000 loss). 

“Despite its scale and the success achieved across a number of its divisions, the severe impact of Covid and recent inflationary pressures meant that J Tomlinson was not in a financial position to continue trading and so we have had to make the difficult decision to cease operations,” said FRP. 

“We’re now assessing options on next steps and have started our engagement with clients and creditors regarding ongoing projects and liabilities. We are providing support for affected staff in making applications to the Redundancy Payments Service.”