PM Group rebuild after heavy losses

Acquisition For sale sign over networking and repair arms.

Administrative receivers of PM Group, the Manchester-based computer services firm, have put its networking installation and IT repair divisions, turning over £12 million a year, up for sale.

PM Group was also undergoing a restructure so that its three smaller loss-making divisions will be transformed into a saleable state, according to James Gleave, joint administrator of Buchler Phillips.

Historically, PM Group had been heavily loss-making, Gleave said. But remedial action undertaken by the management team - installed at the back end of last year - returned the company to profit.

'It had taken enormous strides, but unfortunately ran out of cash. It's the same old story,' Gleave said. 'Ultimately, you have to pay your debts.' He said the company had excellent relationships with its customers who expressed optimism that both divisions could be sold as going concerns.

He intended to continue to trade the group and had no plans to make any redundancies, but he said Buchler Phillips would need the support of the workforce, customers and suppliers to 'help us achieve our objectives'.

PM's networking and repair divisions turns over £6 million a year each.

The group operates out of two freehold sites in Middleton, Greater Manchester, leasehold premises in Rochdale and a satellite operation in Larbert, Scotland.

The installation arm employs 80 people, while the repair division employs 210.

The company generates most of its repair revenue from mending cellphones.

The company also turns over £700,000 a year through repairing PCs and notebooks. This division acts as a one-stop shop for third-party maintenance companies.

PM Group is exempt from filing its profit and loss account because it is categorised as a small company under the Companies Act.

In its latest figures filed at Companies House, it showed that in the year ended 31 March 1997, its total assets were £293,000, with total current liabilities of £162,000.