Incorporated in October 1976, Garrandale Manufacturing was a specialist fabrication and manufacturing firm based in Derby. It was created at the height of the UK’s protracted manufacturing shake-up in the 1970s, as automation began to take hold in heavy industry, a success story which has just collapsed into administration.

Goodbye to Garrandale

There were many heavy industry collapses in the 1970s, as the UK transitioned from a more manual manufacturing sector employing a large chunk of the labour force to an increasingly mechanised one more heavily reliant on robots and automated production lines.

Garrandale was dubbed an ‘institution’ by those who lived in the local community close to its base of operations in Derby, but the pandemic proved to be one final crisis which the firm simply couldn’t overcome. Dozens of the firm’s staff were placed on furlough during the pandemic and its recent financial history suggests heavy turbulence.

According to accounts filed with Companies House in June 2021, in the year ending February 2019, total operations yielded a profit of £235,615, but by the total period ended August 2020, Garrandale slid firmly into the red, with a loss of £720,472. We can accurately see the impact of the pandemic writ large in these figures, taking a profitable business and completely throwing it off balance to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Building back stronger

Garrandale collapsed in spite of its reputation as a well-established engineering firm in Derby, as well as its apparently healthy pre-pandemic finances. The once-in-a-lifetime nature of the COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the destinies of UK businesses throughout the land, but as with all downturns, one community’s loss can be another gain down the road.

All that is required is a savvy investor with the willingness to invest in a distressed business opportunity such as this, to breathe new life into something old and in need of a reboot for a new era. Garrandale was an effective engineering firm at a time of innovation and automation, but the next Garrandale or whichever firm replaces it in Derby will need to be even more dynamic.

Perhaps you could be that person who could establish something new in the engineering sector which becomes a success story of the next 45 years and beyond? With Administration List, fresh opportunities are coming down the pike all the time, so come subscribe to Administration List to catch the next big administration near you as it happens.