Britannia AuctionsLiquidation and insolvency asset sales in Leicester
An appointment over a textile or clothing business in Leicester usually means a rented workshop with rows of sewing machines, cutting tables, pressing equipment and a stockroom of finished garments, fabric rolls, trims and packaging. The assets are modest one by one, but there are a lot of them, and the stock walks if nobody is watching it.
We act on the instruction of the administrator, liquidator, lender or landlord. We attend the premises, schedule and photograph everything and give a written opinion of value. The sale is an online timed auction. Where the unit is on one of the older inner city streets, we will often collect the lot and sell from our own premises, because a viewing day in a first floor sewing room off a narrow street is hard to run.
The same service covers the food processing plants, plastics moulders, printers and distribution sheds on the outer estates. Use the contact form to tell us about the appointment.
Textile workshops and the stock inside them
Clothing manufacture in Leicester runs on short lead times and thin margins, so a failure often leaves the unit full of work in progress. Cut panels, part made garments, finished orders and returns all have a value, but only if they are counted and secured on the first day. Fabric on the roll is the item most likely to attract a retention of title claim, so we schedule it by supplier and set it aside until the office holder has ruled on it.
Industrial sewing machines, overlockers, fusing presses and cutting tables are catalogued for the small makers across the city and in Hinckley and Loughborough, who are close enough to view before they bid. Bagging and labelling equipment goes in front of the same audience. A sale of this kind usually runs as one catalogue with the stock lotted in bundles, so the office holder gets one set of records and one settlement.
Collection from tight streets and outer estates
Access shapes how we run an insolvency sale in this city. At the first visit we check the vehicle route, the turning space, the loading door and the floor the machines stand on. On the older textile streets, built for horse and cart, a viewing day with a stream of buyers and their vans is often impractical, and the lots can be collected and sold from our own premises instead. That gets the unit back to the landlord sooner.
On Braunstone Frith or Meridian Business Park the picture is often different. Food processing lines, moulding machines, print equipment and racking sit in units with yards, so where the access allows it we catalogue on site and hold the viewing there. Buyers arrange and cover the cost of their own removal, and junction 21 is close for a moulding machine going to Coalville or a press to Market Harborough. Either way the office holder gets a fixed collection window and a report of what left the building and when.
What these sales can include
- Machine tools and production lines
- Finished stock and work in progress
- Raw materials and components
- Commercial vehicles and vans
- Plant and site equipment
- Forklift trucks and pallet trucks
- Racking and warehouse fittings
- Office furniture and IT equipment
- Catering and bar equipment
- Fixtures and fittings
- Tooling, spares and consumables
- Shop fittings and displays
How the auction runs
Insolvency assets are usually sold by online timed auction. The catalogue is photographed on site, listed with estimates and opened for bidding for a period agreed with the office holder, usually one to two weeks. A viewing day is held at the premises. Lots are offered as seen under the auction terms, and buyers are expected to inspect before bidding.
Buyers pay the hammer price plus a buyer's premium, with VAT charged where it applies and shown separately on the invoice. Payment is taken before collection. Buyers arrange and pay for the removal of their lots during an agreed collection window, using specialist movers where the weight and dimensions call for them. Our staff supervise collection so the premises are protected and every removal is signed off.
Private treaty is used for individual assets where a direct sale may produce more than the auction, subject to the office holder's approval.
The liquidation and insolvency asset sales page covers who instructs the sale, what an insolvency practitioner needs from us, securing the site, timescales, for directors.
Questions about selling in Leicester
- The company was making garments for a retailer who supplied the fabric. Can that stock be sold?
Not until the office holder has decided who owns it. Customer supplied fabric and the garments cut from it are a common feature of Leicester clothing failures, and the retailer will usually claim it back. We schedule that material separately at the site visit and hold it apart from the company's own stock, with photographs. If the claim is upheld we release it to the customer against a signed receipt. If it fails, the material goes into the auction with everything else.
- The unit is a first floor sewing room off a narrow street. Can you still run an auction?
Yes, though not from that room. We photograph and schedule everything in place, then arrange collection with the handling equipment the route out requires, and specialist assistance where the weight or the stairs call for it. The sale runs from our own premises with a viewing day there, so buyers from Wigston or Oadby collect from a yard with parking rather than a back street, and the unit goes back to the landlord sooner.
More questions about insolvency asset sales
Related services
Guides
- What insolvency practitioners need from an auctioneer
For office holders realising physical assets. Covers the instruction letter, the asset schedule and valuation basis, retention of title, finance checks, site security, health and safety during the sale, and the reconciliation you need for the file.