Britannia AuctionsLiquidation and insolvency asset sales in Stoke-on-Trent
A pottery, tile or sanitaryware business fails with assets that do not fit a standard catalogue. Kilns that are part of the building, shelves of plaster moulds that carry the shapes the company was known for, glazing and decorating lines, and a warehouse of finished ware in firsts and seconds. The office holder needs those assets described by someone who understands which of them are plant, which are stock, which belong to the landlord and which are really the business's designs in physical form.
We sell on the instruction of administrators, liquidators, lenders and landlords. The first visit produces a schedule with photographs, a written opinion of value and a clear separation of the moulds and pattern records from the general plant so the office holder can decide whether to sell them with the name or with the machinery. The same service covers the plastics moulders, food manufacturers, building products firms and distribution sheds along the A500 and A50. Use the contact form to describe the appointment.
Kilns, moulds and finished ware from a pottery
Kilns divide into two kinds for our purposes. Intermittent kilns, the electric and gas top loaders and truck kilns, are free standing and are catalogued for other potteries, studios, schools and colleges. Tunnel kilns and large fixed gas kilns are part of the building in all but name, and the value may sit in the refractory and the steel rather than in the kiln as a working machine. We say so in writing rather than let the catalogue imply otherwise.
Moulds are a different asset. A working mould stock, with the master cases and the pattern books, is the company's range in physical form, and a buyer of the name may want it whole. We schedule the moulds by shape and count and hold them apart. The office holder then decides whether they are sold with the goodwill or as lots. Finished ware is sorted into firsts and seconds and lotted by pattern in trade quantities. Decorating equipment, glaze spray booths, slip pumps and the packing line go in as plant.
Collection from the newer estates and the older sites
Collection is planned from what we find at the site. At Trentham Lakes, Festival Park, Parkhall and the units along the A500 we check the vehicle route, the yard, the loading door and the floor before anything is catalogued. Injection moulding machines from a plastics firm, racking and forklifts from a distribution shed, presses from a building products plant and process lines from a food manufacturer each get a note on how they come out.
The older pottery sites need more care. Some stand on streets in the six towns that were built before lorries, and a kiln or a press on an upper floor is a removal question before it is a sale one. Where that is the case the catalogue says so and collection runs under a method statement. If the site cannot be held, we move the smaller lots to our own premises. Newcastle-under-Lyme, Stafford, Crewe and Uttoxeter are close enough to come and look, and potteries and plastics firms elsewhere in the UK bid online.
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 Stoke-on-Trent
- The pottery's moulds and pattern books carry its designs. Are they sold with the plant?
Only if the office holder decides they should be. Moulds, master cases, block moulds and pattern books are the physical side of the company's designs, and a buyer for the business name will usually want them together. We schedule them separately at the site visit and keep them apart from the general plant, with a written view of their value as a block. If no buyer for the name comes forward, they are sold as lots in the auction, by shape and pattern.
- A tunnel kiln runs the length of the factory. Is it worth anything?
Often no more than its materials. A tunnel kiln is built into the structure, and the cost of taking it down and moving it weighs against what it would be worth in another factory. The refractory brick, the steel, the cars and the burners have a value, and a demolition or salvage contractor may bid for the kiln on that basis. We give the office holder a written opinion either way.
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.