Britannia AuctionsBusiness closure auctions in Peterborough
Print runs end. When the last job comes off the press and the lease at Fengate or Woodston has a date on it, the building still holds the presses, the guillotines, the folders and the stock of paper that was bought for work that is not coming. Food packagers and engineering shops across the city reach the same point in their own way, with a line that has stopped and a landlord who wants the floor back.
We turn the contents into one online timed sale. Lots are catalogued where they stand, the trade comes to view on one day, and buyers collect during a fixed window with our staff on site to release paid lots. The auction is online and open to buyers from any part of the country, and the printers at Huntingdon and Stamford, the engineers at Spalding and Wisbech and the packers at March and Whittlesey are well placed to come and look before bidding closes.
Tell us the empty date first. Everything else is planned back from it.
Presses, finishing kit and the paper stock nobody ordered
A print works sells in layers. The presses are the headline lots, and what a sheetfed press brings depends on its age, its condition, the controls and what it costs to move, with the buyer arranging the specialist mover. Around them sits the finishing kit that other printers use day to day: guillotines, folders, stitchers, laminators, platemakers and the drying racks. Most of that will go in a van.
Then there is stock. Paper, board, inks and plates were bought for jobs that will not now run, and they are lotted in bulk for other printers and for merchants. Do not clear it to save space. A pallet of coated stock is a lot on its own, and twenty pallets are worth cataloguing properly.
Food packaging lines follow the same pattern. Flow wrappers, checkweighers, metal detectors and conveyors are used by food processors across the fens, and the film and cartons on the shelves are lotted with them. Engineering shops on Orton Southgate bring the machine tools and the stores.
Fengate units and the parkway that carries the lots away
Fengate is a mixed estate, and access depends on which end of it you are in. The national depots on the outer roads were built for articulated lorries. The small workshops further in often have shared yards, low doors, tight corners and neighbours who still need to trade during the collection days. We check the approach and the door height when we first visit and write the result into the catalogue so that buyers turn up with the right vehicle.
The parkway system helps. Buyers coming from the A1(M) reach the estates without passing through the city, and a low loader leaving Woodston for Corby is on the A605 in minutes. The collection order is agreed with you, and it often suits to take the heavy lots before the van lots. Machines that can be run safely stay connected for the viewing day and are isolated by a competent person before they are lifted.
When the lease date leaves no room for a collection window on site, we bring 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 Peterborough
- Our presses are on hire purchase with a year left. Is it worth selling them at all?
Usually, yes, provided the lender agrees. We ask the finance company for a settlement figure and their written consent to sell. If the hammer price is likely to clear the settlement, the sale pays the lender from the proceeds and you keep the balance. If it is not, you need to decide whether to make up the shortfall or hand the press back. We will give you a view on likely value before you commit, and it is only a view, not a promise.
- We have several pallets of customer branded packaging. Can that be sold?
Not with the branding on it. Printed cartons and film carrying a customer's name cannot be put into open sale, and the customer will not thank you for trying. Offer it back to the customer first, or arrange to destroy it and keep a record. Plain stock, unprinted film, board and inks sell as normal lots. Tell us which pallets are which before the viewing day so that we can lot the rest properly.
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.