Hopes fade for 56 workers still at Hawick Knitwear

The hopes of the 56 workers who were retained to complete existing orders for the famous name company now look increasingly forlorn and would appear to rest on a single unnamed “party” who is in discussion with administrators KPMG.

Blair Nimmo, joint administrator and head of restructuring at KPMG in Scotland, told The Southern yesterday: “Despite considerable efforts, unfortunately no party has been prepared to acquire the business and assets as a going concern.

“We have continued discussions with various parties who have offered to acquire the assets of the company.

“We are in discussions with a party who wishes to acquire certain assets and who may, at some point, look to commence production from the company’s premises in Hawick.

“However, until a formal agreement is concluded, we are not in a position to provide further information.”

Also waiting in the wings for a resolution are the 120 unsecured (non preferential) creditors who were owed a total of £1.33million by the company when it entered administration on January 7.

That list, verified by the company’s sole director Benny Hartop, is included in a “notice of statement of affairs”, required under the Insolvency Act and submitted to Companies House.

Unsecured trade creditors include yarn suppliers Hinchliffe & Sons of Huddersfield (owed £435,623), Todd & Duncan if Kinross (£228,546) and Italy-based Filivivi SRL (£67,444), along with HM Revenue and Customs PAYE/NI (£273,151).

Around 70 of the creditors are owed sums of £1,000 or less.

One of the larger debts (£42,000) is, according to the list, owed to the Alnwick-based property firm Liddesdale Ltd from which Hawick Knitwear leased its Liddesdale Road premises.

The sole director of Liddesdale Ltd is Mr Hartop whose Linkedin profile states he is “currently seeking new opportunities”.