Britannia AuctionsLiquidation and insolvency asset sales in Milton Keynes
Modern sheds fail with modern problems. A retail supply chain or online seller at Magna Park or Tongwell goes into administration with racking to the roof, a stock of goods that has a season attached to it and a warehouse system that holds the only accurate record of what is there. The landlord wants a clean, empty building, and the stock loses value every week it sits.
We act for administrators, liquidators, lenders and landlords. The first visit produces a schedule with photographs and serial numbers, a written opinion of value, a stock count reconciled to the warehouse system and a list of everything financed, leased or belonging to a customer. Sales run as online timed auctions, usually in situ, with the vehicle access, the yard and the loading arrangements checked on our first visit and set out in the catalogue. The sale is online, so buyers anywhere in the UK can take part, and Northampton, Bedford, Luton and Aylesbury are within easy reach of the viewing. Use the contact form to describe the appointment.
Retail stock in a fulfilment shed with a season running out
Stock is sold differently from plant. A shed of consumer goods may do better sold in bulk to one or two clearance buyers than lotted line by line, and on a seasonal line speed can matter more than the last pound. Seasonal goods, dated goods and goods sold under a brand the office holder does not control all need a decision before the catalogue is written. We give the office holder our opinion on each route at the site visit, with the stock count and the system data behind it.
Where the stock goes to auction it is lotted by pallet or by line, with the system report as the lot description and photographs of a sample. Wholesalers and clearance traders across the UK can bid online from the system report and the photographs, most of them without viewing. The plant is separate. Racking, mezzanines, conveyors, packing benches and forklifts are catalogued for other operators, and the racking is often the largest single lot.
Dynamometers, prototype parts and work that belongs to a racing customer
The engineering firms at Knowlhill, Kingston and Wolverton Mill supply motorsport and automotive customers, and an appointment there raises questions that a warehouse does not. Prototype parts, moulds, patterns and data belong to the customer under most supply contracts. Machining centres, coordinate measuring machines, engine dynamometers and composite ovens are the company's, but some were bought on finance for a single programme. Drawings on the servers are the customer's confidential property.
We list the customer property first and hold it for release, with the contract reference where the paperwork shows it. The company's own machines are photographed, checked for finance and sold by online timed auction to precision engineering buyers across the UK. Where one workshop of equipment is of interest to a single trade buyer, the office holder may prefer a private treaty sale, and we can advise on that. Data is wiped from every machine controller and computer before sale, with a certificate for each.
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 Milton Keynes
- There is branded stock in the shed and the brand belongs to a licensor. Can it be sold?
That is for the office holder to settle with the licensor before we list it. In some cases the licence allows a sale on termination, in others the licensor will want the stock destroyed or delabelled, and the terms decide. We count and hold the stock while that is resolved, and we can sell it under the brand, without the brand or to the licensor itself once the office holder instructs. Our stock count and photographs give the office holder the figures for that discussion.
- The warehouse is enormous. How long will it take to clear?
Longer than a workshop, and the order is agreed rather than fixed. Customer property normally leaves first, against receipts. Stock is counted and either sold in bulk or catalogued by pallet. Loose plant follows in a collection window agreed with the office holder. Racking and mezzanines are usually left until the bays are clear, dismantled by the buyer under a method statement. How long the whole job takes depends on the number of lots, the access and the lease date, and we propose the dates in the first report.
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.