Britannia AuctionsLiquidation and insolvency asset sales in Reading
Reading fails in two different ways. Technology companies at Green Park, Thames Valley Park or Theale go into administration with a leased office, a floor of desks and monitors, a server room, a stack of laptops and almost no plant. Engineering workshops, vehicle repairers and trade suppliers on the Battle Farm estate or along Basingstoke Road fail with machines, vans, stock and tools in a unit that the landlord wants back.
We take instructions from administrators, liquidators, lenders and landlords on both. The first visit produces a schedule with photographs and serial numbers, a written opinion of value and a list of finance, leases and third party property. For an office that means the IT leases and the data on the drives. For a workshop it means the vans and the customer jobs in progress. The online catalogue is open to buyers UK wide, and Wokingham, Bracknell, Newbury and Basingstoke are near enough to view in person. Use the contact form to describe the appointment.
Laptops, servers and the data that has to come off them first
The assets of a failed technology company are mostly IT, and IT cannot be sold until the data is dealt with. Laptops, servers, storage and phones hold customer records, source code, contracts and personal data that the office holder is responsible for. We schedule every device by serial number when we walk the site, hold it securely, and arrange certified data wiping or drive destruction before anything is offered, with a certificate for each device that goes into the sale report.
The equipment is then catalogued for a national audience. Recent laptops, monitors, docking stations, network hardware and desk furniture are of interest to refurbishers and to other businesses across the UK, nearly all of whom bid online without visiting. Leased IT belongs to the funder until the agreement is settled, so it is returned, or where the funder agrees, sold in the same auction with the settlement paid from the proceeds and accounted for separately. Break dates on office leases are often short, so the whole job is planned to finish before the keys go back.
Trade units cleared and sold from our own premises
The industrial side of the town is made of smaller companies in older units. A vehicle repairer, an engineering workshop or a trade supplier fails with a handful of machines, a van or two, a stockroom and customers' property on the premises. The plant is catalogued for the trade across Berkshire and beyond, and where the unit is small and the yard tight, the sale is often better run from our own premises.
Collection is arranged around the access and the number of lots. Everything is scheduled and photographed before it moves, vans are checked for finance, customer vehicles and customer jobs are listed and held for release, and the unit is handed back. The sale then runs as an online timed auction with viewing at our premises. Where a company has heavier plant, that lot stays in situ with a fixed removal date and a method statement, and the route out at Theale or Battle Farm is checked on our first visit and 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 Reading
- The company's data is on the laptops. Who is responsible for it?
The office holder, once appointed, and our process is built to protect that. Every device is scheduled by serial number, kept under our control and wiped or destroyed by a certified process before sale. A certificate for each device goes into the sale report. Where the office holder needs data preserved for the accounts or for a claim, those devices are held back and imaged first. Nothing with a drive in it is offered until the office holder has confirmed it is clear.
- The office is on a short lease with a break coming up. Can you clear it in time?
The first report proposes dates. How long an office of desks, chairs and IT takes to schedule and clear depends on the number of items, the access and the data work on the drives, and the assets can be sold from our own premises so the keys go back on the break date. Where the landlord will allow a short period of access, a sale in situ with buyers collecting from the office saves the cost of moving furniture.
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.