Administrator RSM says collapse in part caused by ‘loss of confidence in sector from investors’
Historic industry name Geoffrey Osborne has brought nearly 60 years of trading to a close after the firm formally called in administrators today.
The firm, set up by its eponymous founder in 1966, confirmed that restructuring specialist RSM has been appointed administrator.
Around 100 staff at the Reigate-based company have been redundant with a handful of staff kept on to help with the administration. Osborne said all staff, who were told the news this morning, have been paid up to the end of this month.
Joint administrator Damian Webb said: “Regrettably, despite the substantive efforts of the Osborne team, it has not been possible to rescue the business.
“This failure is attributable to the macro-economic challenges the company has faced since covid and the consequent loss of confidence in the sector from investors and funders.”
Osborne had been hoping to novate several contracts, a mixture of jobs on site and those at second stage and in the pre-construction phase, to new firms but this process is understood to have stalled.
Osborne family member Andrew Osborne has been chairman since 2012 and in a statement, he said: “This is a sad day and one we worked very hard to avoid. I’m sorry for our staff, who are the greatest strength of our business, and thank them for their work over many years.
“Appointing administrators is a last resort after a determined effort to trade through the economic headwinds and deliver for customers.”
Osborne, which had a turnover of around £90m, has been paring back its business in the last few years as part of a restructuring.
It sold its £200m infrastructure division, which operated in the roads and rail market, to private equity in September 2021.
And last autumn, it sold Osborne Property Services Limited, which was set up in 2006 and employed around 230 people, to social housing maintenance specialist Cardo Group for an undisclosed sum. Six months earlier it offloaded its Innovaré offsite business, which employed 115 people, to Bowmer & Kirkland, also for an undisclosed sum.
As well as offloading parts of its business, the firm has also rejigged its senior leadership in the past few years with Andy Steele leaving in October 2021, which saw him replaced by former Wates COO Dave Smith as interim boss. He was then replaced by Mark Hoyland, a former boss of social housing firm Orbit, but he only lasted a few months before Smith, who had stayed on in a non-executive role, was brought back to the top job last spring.
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