Le Maitre in Liquidation

[Brian]

Le Maitre, the Peterborough based manufacturer of stage pyro, is in liquidation.

 

As well as loads of small creditors they owe...

 

HMRC (PAYE) £287,282

HSE £221,842

Barclays £200,000 for a CBILS

 

 

...plus there's the possible pending prosecution for the fatal accident.

 

If you are interested there's loads of downloadable official documents on the Companies House website.

[Ynot]

In a word....

 

OUCH!!!

 

:(

 

 

 

[Junior8]

It is about time they started calling non payment of PAYE what it is and dealing with those involved accordingly limited company or not. It is high time exemption accounts for small companies are abolished as well.

[Brian]

Oh, and all 70+ staff have been made redundant for the second time.

[Dj Dunc]

Interesting. I made a call to them on Friday last week, and they said it was all change on Monday 1st Feb and they would be able to supply me direct, rather than through a distributor. They also said they had moved to new premises etc. I hadn't realised this was why.

[bigclive]

Who actually gets the money when HSE issues "fines"?

 

I see so many seemingly excessive fines for petty things that I wonder if this is just another facet of the lucrative safety industry.

[J Pearce]

Not good news at all. Probably more to come yet too, especially the companies who rely on consumables sales.

 

Any indication yet of future manufacturing of le maitre compatible fluids? As far as I am aware their haze fluid is unique in the market and can’t be swapped out with a different manufacturer’s.

[paulears]

A huge shame - Elaine left a while back and we got on very well, even being interviewed by the Police for our unlicensed importation of pyro into Northern Ireland!

[Ynot]

A huge shame - Elaine left a while back and we got on very well, even being interviewed by the Police for our unlicensed importation of pyro into Northern Ireland!

Yep - Elaine leaving was a big loss to a lot of customers - she was always ready and willing to help out and often sent samples for me to try out in the run up to panto when we were looking for something 'different'.

 

I sincerely hope that a buyer can be found who will take on the product lines and keep them going.

Pyro of course probably being their biggest seller will leave a huge gap in the market - there's a lot of Le M hardware out there that isn't really compatible with many (or any?) other suppliers' pods etc. And haze/fog juice is going to be a pain for many if that dries up...

:(

 

 

[TomHoward]

Who actually gets the money when HSE issues "fines"?

 

I see so many seemingly excessive fines for petty things that I wonder if this is just another facet of the lucrative safety industry.

With advance apologies that I would never want to disagree with statesman Clive, but out of respect for those involved I feel it necessary to mention LM had a delivery lorry turning round in their neighbour's yard explode in 1989 killing one, an explosion on site in 1990 killing one and another explosion on site in 2018 killing one, so whilst there is no doubt truth in what you say, it appears on the surface at least that LM did not have an entirely unblemished safety record.

Edited February 5, 2021 by Brian

[Stuart91]

I sincerely hope that a buyer can be found who will take on the product lines and keep them going.

Pyro of course probably being their biggest seller will leave a huge gap in the market -

 

If the North American incarnation(s) are still manufacturing, somebody will no doubt find a way to distribute that over here. It might mean longer lead times, especially on the more obscure or custom items. (Manufacturing capacity is unlikely to be an issue for a while)

 

Or a Phoenix of some kind is on the way.

[alistermorton]

Or a Phoenix of some kind is on the way.

 

Hmmm, interesting choice of words, where Le Maitre is involved. A pyro company rising from the ashes has a certain ... piquance ... about it.

[itiba]

Well I note in Nov 2020 "FOURTH DROVE LIMITED" was incorporated with Company number 13003533. Purporting to have a purpose of "Operation of warehousing and storage facilities for land transport activities"

Both directors are common with Le Maitre - Ms Karen Cornacchia and Mr Richard Wilson

Nothing should be inferred from this statement of fact

 

 

[musht]

Was it a previous incarnation of LeMaitre where the ex sales manager hired a burger van for catering the onsite liquidation sale.

[Stuart91]

Was it a previous incarnation of LeMaitre where the ex sales manager hired a burger van for catering the onsite liquidation sale.

 

You can't help but admire the hustle.

 

 

The liquidators report stated over £1m of stock (book value) but estimated to realise less than 25% of that. (I imagine because expiry dates are likely to come sooner than lockdown lifts).

 

They should just crowdfund the ~£200k and set the whole lot off at once somewhere.