Britannia AuctionsBusiness closure auctions in Aberdeen
When a service contract ends in the North Sea, the yard that supported it can empty in a month. The workshop at Altens or Tullos still holds the machine tools, the test bay, the welding sets and the stores. The yard outside holds the offshore containers, the baskets, the skids and the lifting gear that came back on the last boat. The lease, meanwhile, runs to its date.
We turn that into a closure sale. The workshop is catalogued on site, the yard stock is lotted by type and certification, and everything sells in one online timed auction with a viewing day for the trade. Bidding is online and open to bidders across the country and overseas, and the oil and renewables trade at Westhill, Inverurie, Stonehaven and Portlethen is within easy reach of a viewing day. Offshore kit is described so that a bidder who never visits can judge it.
Tell us what is in the yard and the date the keys go back.
Offshore containers and the yard stock that follows a contract
Oil service yards hold a kind of stock that most auctioneers never see. Certified offshore containers, half height baskets, cargo skids, chemical tanks, wire slings and shackle sets are all worth money to the next contractor, provided the certificates are current or the buyer can see what needs re inspecting. We lot them with the plates and paperwork photographed, and we note the test dates. Kit that is out of test is described as such, so that a bidder can price in the cost of recertifying it.
Subsea and inspection firms bring test rigs, pressure vessels, ROV spares and calibrated instruments to the sale. Some of that has a small market and we say so, and where one buyer is obvious a private treaty sale of a single item can run alongside the auction.
The workshop behind the yard suits the general trade. Lathes, mills, welding sets, saws and the overhead crane are lotted for fabricators across the north east of Scotland.
Big yards, heavy lifts and buyers from further away
The yards at Altens and Tullos were built for heavy handling, and Dyce and Kirkhill sit on the peripheral route off the A90. On the first visit we check vehicle access and the turning circle, loading facilities, gate and door dimensions, floor levels and shared yards, and the findings go in the catalogue so buyers know before they bid. Volume is the other factor, because a yard can hold several hundred lots, so the collection window is agreed to suit, with our staff on site throughout.
Bidding for offshore kit is open to contractors in the central belt, the north of England and overseas, and a distant buyer sends a haulier rather than attending, so we describe every lot as if the buyer will never visit. The viewing day is held on site for the local trade.
Where the lease date is too close for all that, we move the lots to our own premises and sell them from there.
What these sales can include
- Production machinery
- Finished goods and raw materials
- Warehouse racking
- Forklifts and handling equipment
- Vans, trucks and trailers
- Office furniture and computers
- Workshop tools and benches
- Compressors and site services
- Catering equipment
- Retail fittings and display units
- Vehicle lifts
- Packaging machinery
How we run the sale
We visit, agree the scope and catalogue the lots on site. Everything from the main machines down to the contents of the stores can be included. Small items are grouped into sensible lots so that nothing is left behind.
The sale runs online as a timed auction. Bidders register, view the lots on a set viewing day at your premises, and bid until the closing time. Lots close in sequence, and a late bid extends the closing time on that lot.
Buyers pay the hammer price plus the buyer's premium, with VAT charged where it applies and shown separately on the invoice. They pay us, and you are paid once the sale is reconciled and the collection window has closed, from cleared funds. The auction terms set out what happens if a buyer does not pay or collect. The details for your sale are explained when we discuss it.
The business closure auctions page covers closure sales and the pressure of the date, who needs to agree before you sell, stock, records and the things people forget, collection, clearance and the empty building, when a closure sale is not the answer.
Questions about selling in Aberdeen
- Some of our equipment is still offshore on a client's platform. Can it be included?
Only once it is back on the quay and in your control. Kit that is offshore cannot be viewed, cannot be handed over in the collection window and may be subject to the client's contract until demobilised. If the return date is known and falls before collection, we can list it with a note that viewing is by photograph. If not, we leave it out and sell it in a later sale or by private treaty when it lands.
- Our inspection instruments and lifting gear have calibration and test dates due. Does that matter to buyers?
It affects what a bidder is prepared to pay rather than whether the lot is offered. A shackle set or an ultrasonic set with a lapsed certificate needs recertifying, and that cost sits with the buyer. Do not pay to recertify before the sale unless the cost is small against the value, and ask us for a view first. We photograph every plate and certificate so that bidders can judge for themselves.
More questions about closure auctions
Related services
Guides
- Closing a business: a timeline for selling the assets
Work backwards from the day you hand the site over. This guide covers lease end and dilapidations, when to instruct, when staff should leave, when to keep the power on, and how to leave enough room for collection and making good.