Middle East losses sent Morgan Tucker into administration

Significant losses from its Middle East operations contributed to Morgan Tucker entering administration last week.

A spokesperson for private equity firm Foresight Nottingham Fund, which invested £1m in 2015 in the Newark-based firm to fund bolt-on acquisitions, said: “Morgan Tucker had experienced organic growth initially in the UK, however it suffered significant losses when expanding into the Middle East.”

The spokesperson added that the decision to appoint FRP Advisory as the business’ administrator came after Morgan Tucker’s directors were “unable to source additional investment capital to support the business”.

A spokesman for the administrators at FRP Advisory confirmed the appointment and that all 65 members of staff had been made redundant and that the company had ceased trading.

“The company had faced severe financial pressure for a number of months and had sought new investment which ultimately did not come to fruition,” the spokesperson said. 

Morgan Tucker initially engaged FRP Advisory to seek buyers for the business. Despite interest from number of parties, a buyer was not found, leaving the business with an unsustainable cash-flow issue which meant it had no alternative but to enter administration.

In its most recent accounts filed at Companies House for the year ended 30 April 2015, the firm reported that it owed creditors £1.3m and had net assets of £478,444.

Matthew Tucker founded the business in 2005 and was its managing director until he stepped down in February.