Britannia AuctionsLiquidation and insolvency asset sales in Portsmouth
Work on a naval city's estates comes with paperwork. A precision engineering or defence electronics firm at Hilsea fails with machine tools, test equipment, stock and drawings that may be subject to export controls, customer security rules or loan agreements with a prime contractor. A ship repairer or boatbuilder at Trafalgar Wharf fails with plant on a quay and customers' vessels alongside. The office holder needs to know what can be sold openly and what cannot, before the catalogue is written.
We act for administrators, liquidators, lenders and landlords. The first visit produces the schedule, the photographs, a written opinion of value and a list of every item that looks like customer property, financed plant or controlled goods. The sale is an online timed auction. Anyone in the UK can bid online, and Havant, Fareham, Gosport and Chichester are close enough to attend a viewing. Use the contact form to describe the appointment.
Test equipment on loan and drawings that cannot be sold with the parts
Defence subcontracting leaves a workshop full of things that are not the company's. Test rigs and gauges on loan from the customer. Drawings, fixtures and part finished components that belong to a contract. We separate these from the company's own machines at the site visit, list them with the contract they relate to, and tell the office holder which items we think can go into an open sale and which need the customer's agreement or a check on export rules first.
The machines themselves suit a general catalogue. Machining centres, lathes, grinders, inspection equipment, surface mount lines and electronics test gear are put in front of engineering firms along the south coast and of bidders anywhere in the UK online. Where a lot has a controlled item bolted to it, we describe it, remove the controlled part where we can, and sell the rest. Where the customer wants its property back, it is released against a signed receipt and recorded in the report.
Small units in Fratton and Cosham and where the sale runs from
The older estates on the island were built tight. A vehicle repairer or trade workshop in Fratton or Cosham may have one roller door onto a shared yard and little room for buyers to park, so the door, the yard and the route out are checked at the site visit. Where a viewing day is impractical, everything is scheduled and photographed in place, collection is arranged with handling equipment to suit the route, and the sale runs from our own premises with viewing there. That gets the unit back to the landlord sooner.
The bigger units at Hilsea, on Voyager Park and at Dunsbury Park are checked the same way, and where the yard, the doors and the parking suit a viewing, the sale runs in situ with a collection window agreed with the office holder. The M275 and A3(M) are close for buyers arranging transport. Either way the office holder gets the same schedule and report, and a record of what left the site 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 Portsmouth
- Some of the equipment was lent to the company by its main customer for one contract. Can it go in the sale?
Not without the customer's written agreement. Loaned test equipment, tooling and fixtures stay the customer's property whatever the state of the company, and selling them would expose the office holder to a claim. We schedule them separately when we walk the site, with the loan reference where the paperwork shows it, and hold them until the customer collects or the office holder tells us otherwise. If the customer would rather sell than collect, the items can go into the same auction with the proceeds accounted for separately.
- The company held a security clearance. Does that stop you attending the site?
It changes how we attend, not whether. We take instructions on which areas are restricted and which items are controlled, attend with the office holder or an escort where the customer requires it, and photograph only what we are allowed to. Items that cannot be shown in a public catalogue are described in general terms and offered to buyers the office holder approves, or left out of the sale. The report records every decision so the file stands up to a later question.
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.