Thirtytwo jobs to go in lisnaskea following sale of p clarke sons

Lisnaskea-based P Clarke and Sons, who entered administration last week, have been taken over by Co Derry engineering and concrete firm, FP McCann.
Administrators BDO were appointed to the Fermanagh business set up in the 1930s as a contracting and quarrying business, on Friday last, August 14.
The appointment of an administrator heralded the announcement that 32 of the company’s 90 employees were to be made redundant.
The Anglo-Celt understands seven interested companies had made bids for the third generation firm including Quinn Business Retention Company (QBRC) keen on maintaining local ownership, but a sale was agreed with Magherafelt-based FP McCann following “a formal sales and marketing process”.
The administrators have since stated that 58 jobs were secured as, through the deal with FP McCann, the business “will continue to trade under new ownership and with the continued support of the existing senior management team”.
In the latest set of accounts for P Clarke and Sons Ltd, the company had cited poor financial turnover as down to a “loss of confidence in the economy” leading to “more difficult trading conditions”.
The firm reported turnover of around £20m and a small profit of £75,000 - after taking out interest, tax and other expenses - according the last set of accounts ending March 31, 2014.
The development is yet another blow for the employment market in Lisnaskea, which has suffered in recent decades from a huge loss of manufacturing employment through the closures of Adria, Dairycrest Creamery, Cheese Factory, Watson Stones and the Sir Richard Arkwright factory.