A Gloucestershire manufacturing firm has appointed administrators after putting itself up for sale last week.
Bosses at Trackwise Designs, which specialises in printed circuit technology products used in the aerospace, automotive, medical and scientific sectors said that the board had been exploring longer term strategic investment partnerships since September 2022.
The AIM-listed firm took the decision on July 24 to put itself up for sale due to its “current financial uncertainty” and “increased creditor pressure”.
The following day (July 25) the firm announced that it had resolved to file a notice of intention to appoint administrators. The board has now appointed Arvindar Jit Singh and Raj Mittal, both of FRP Advisory Trading Limited as joint administrators.
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Trackwise said the likely outcome for creditors of the firm is currently unknown and it is not expected that the appointment of the administrators will enable there to be any return to the shareholders of the company.
The announcement does not affect subsidiary Stevenage Circuits, which is not in administration.
Chief executive Philip Johnston said: “It is beyond words the disappointment that I feel in having to make this announcement.
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“So many colleagues – past and present, customers, suppliers, collaborators and investors have worked tirelessly, sacrificed so much, dug so deep, to develop Trackwise and to deliver Improved Harness Technology.
“I thank them all for their support over many years and am so very sorry that all of that has come to this. It is certainly not for the lack of trying.”
Andrew Lapping, chair of Trackwise, added: “I am truly sorry that the strategy set out for Trackwise in December has failed to produce the hoped for result.
“Chris Pennison and I joined the board in January in the knowledge that the £4.8m fundraise only gave the company a limited cash runway and would therefore require positive commercial progress in H1 2023.
“Our short-term strategy was dependent on securing a Nomination from a Tier 1 for automotive OEM B, a project that has been worked on for at least 12 months. A decision on this was originally expected in the first quarter or in April but in the event, a final decision was only made in late July.
“If we had won the nomination, it would have allowed Trackwise to seek to raise sufficient funds to take it to the start of production and significant cashflow."
The company, a recent recipient of a King’s Award for Enterprise, had delayed the publishing of its full financial results and suspended trading in its shares on the London Stock Exchange.
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Trackwise previously said a financial report it was expecting to publish in July 2023, subject to its audit, would detail a pre-tax loss of £7.7m during 2022 - widened from a near £2m loss recorded in 2021. Full year revenue was also forecast to dip to around £7.5m from approximately £8m a year earlier.
Mr Lapping continued: “I want to assure all that we have explored all possible routes to raising finance without success. It is with personal regret that the strategy set out in December has failed and I can only apologise for the end result.”
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