Specialist business advisory firm FRP Advisory has confirmed that International Decorative Surfaces (IDS) has now officially entered administration, with those now responsible for the company preparing to sell its remaining assets.
Alastair Massey and Tony Wright, both of FRP, were appointed as joint administrators of the company on September 9.
The company has had a strong presence across the KBB industry for more than quarter of a century, and was said to be one of Europe’s largest distributors of decorative surface materials.
It reports holding stock of over 6,000 product lines available to customers, and was based across 12 sites in England and Scotland – 11 of which are said to remain operational.
At the moment of administration the business employed almost 400 people. FRP has confirmed that some of those employees have sadly been made redundant, but that it is assisting those affected via the Redundancy Payments Service.
FRP says that its appointment follows what it calls “the significant slowdown in the property and construction sectors”, which has lead to funding difficulties at IDS.
The appointed joint administrators also say they are continuing to trade through the stock holding and are in the process of marketing the business and its assets for sale.
They believe that IDS has a number of strengths as a business, including half a million sq ft of warehousing across its regional sites, which are said to support over 50,000 monthly transactions. In addition, the business also possesses an 85-strong vehicle fleet that it used to offer nationwide delivery within 24-48 hours.
“While IDS has faced significant challenges in recent months, it remains a business with considerable strengths and capabilities,” said joint administrator and partner at FRP, Alastair Massey.
He added: “We’re now focused on exploring all options to secure a future for the business, including marketing it for sale and we would encourage any parties interested in acquiring the business to make contact with us as soon as possible.”
News of the company’s impending administration broke last week, as the company had filed a notice of intent to appoint administrators, and updated its website to reflect the action.
