Meeting called for Hawick Knitwear creditors

Creditors of failed textile firm Hawick Knitwear, which entered administration on January 7, have been called to a meeting in Edinburgh next week.

It has been organised by administrators KPMG who have confirmed that no buyer has been found for the business as a going concern and who now wish to liquidate the company.

Those attending will be invited to form a creditors’ committee to approve settlement of a remuneration bill of £296,000 already incurred by KPMG, representing 840 hours of work at an average rate of £355 per hour.

This exceeds the £240,000 which has been raised from “asset realisation” since the firm entered administration.

In a notice to the 120 unsecured creditors who are owed £1.3m, the administrators say: “We estimate unsecured creditors may receive a partial dividend during the creditors’ voluntary liquidation.”

However, the claim of the sole secure creditor HSBC, which was owed £686,000 but has since recovered £380,000 from indebted Hawick Knitwear customers, will be met in full.

And the preferential creditors - the workforce who are due wage arrears, holiday pay and certain pension benefits worth a total of £64,300 - will also get their money.

The creditors meeting will take place in the Castle Terrace offices of KPMG in Edinburgh on Tuesday, March 15 at 2pm.

Hawick Knitwear employed 179 staff at its Liddesdale Road factory. Of these 119 were made redundant on January 7 with the remainder, who were retained to complete outstanding orders, following two weeks later.