Pars downfall blamed on VAT woes

System builder's administrator seeks buyer for quick sale of business

Pars Technology's slide into administration has been blamed on a long-standing tax dispute with HMRC and resulted in up to 10 redundancies.

As revealed by ChannelWeb yesterday, the beleaguered system builder was placed into administration on Friday, with Solihull-based insolvency practitioner Rendle & Co brought in to oversee operations.

The firm's administrator said Pars's financial woes stemmed from the rejection of a large VAT repayment claim by HMRC some time ago.

A recent bid to get the judgement overturned failed, resulting in the firm being placed under administration late last week.

The move has led to "eight to ten" of the firm's technical and production staff being made redundant, and around the same number being retained.

Pars has recently been linked to a possible sale, with companies such as Viglen, Centerprise and Mesh mentioned as potential suitors. Richard Rendle, owner of Rendle & Co, told ChannelWeb that his priority is to find a buyer for the firm as quickly as possible.

He said: "We have had more than one expression of interest and I suspect it will be a competitor that we end up selling to.

"Because of the costs associated with running the business, we need to move very quickly and are looking to sell it off in its entirety."