Britannia AuctionsLiquidation and insolvency asset sales in Plymouth
An insolvency sale in Plymouth has to be run with the distance to the trade in mind, because most of the country's buyers are a long drive away. The businesses that fail are the ones the sea and the dockyard support. A seafood processor at Sutton Harbour with filleting lines, blast freezers and ice plant. A ship repairer or boatbuilder on the Tamar with a slipway, cranes and customers' vessels. A medical device or precision firm at Estover or Langage with clean rooms and validated equipment.
We act for administrators, liquidators, lenders and landlords across Devon and Cornwall. The first visit produces the schedule, the photographs, a written opinion of value and a list of finance, vessels and third party property. Sales are online timed auctions with more photographs and fuller descriptions than usual, because bidders elsewhere in the UK may buy without visiting. Saltash, Tavistock, Ivybridge and Liskeard are a manageable drive from the viewing day. Use the contact form to describe the appointment.
Seafood plant and fishing gear from the harbour
A fish processor fails with two kinds of asset. The plant, which is stainless steel, refrigeration and packing equipment that a general catalogue reaches, and the perishable side, which is the stock in the freezers, the ice and the gear on the quay. The stock is dealt with in the first days, sold to another processor by private treaty or disposed of, with a count and a record for the office holder.
The plant then goes to auction. Filleting and grading lines, blast freezers, cold rooms, ice machines, vacuum packers, scales and stainless benches are catalogued for food firms in the south west and, online, across the UK. Where a fishing vessel is among the assets, it is a separate matter with its own registry, its own mortgage checks and its own buyers, and we advise the office holder on whether auction or private treaty suits it. Access at a harbour site is checked when we first visit, including the route out and whether a lift from the quay is needed, and the findings go in the catalogue.
Clean rooms and validated equipment from a medical device maker
The advanced manufacturing firms on the northern estates fail with assets that carry documentation. Clean room modules, laminar flow cabinets, moulding and assembly machines qualified for medical work, environmental monitoring, test equipment and calibrated instruments are worth describing with their validation records, calibration certificates and maintenance logs, because that paperwork is part of what a buyer assesses. We collect that paperwork when we walk the site before anyone deletes it, and we list it against each lot in the catalogue.
Regulated stock is different. Finished devices and components made under a quality system cannot be sold as product once that system has stopped, and the office holder needs to decide with the regulator's position in mind. We value them as stock or as material and hold them until instructed. The clean rooms themselves are sold as removable plant where the lease allows, with a method statement for the buyer's contractor, and the access at Estover or Langage is checked at the site visit, with the route out and any lifting written into the catalogue.
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 Plymouth
- There is a fishing boat in the assets. Do you sell vessels?
We can, though a vessel is handled differently from plant. The registry entry, any marine mortgage and the licence that goes with the boat all have to be checked before it is offered, and the office holder may prefer a private treaty sale to a buyer in the trade rather than an auction. We give our opinion on the route and the value, market the vessel to the fishing trade in the south west and beyond, and deal with the mortgagee where there is one.
- Will buyers from the rest of the country take part in a sale this far south west?
Bidding is online and open nationally, so distance need not keep anyone out. A catalogue with full photographs, serial numbers and honest condition notes lets a buyer inland bid without a visit, and buyers organise and pay for the removal of their own lots. Saltash, Tavistock and Ivybridge are close enough for the viewing day, which suits anyone who wants to inspect the smaller lots in person.
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.