Former HE Simm directors join rival M&E firm

A Wirral M&E firm has taken on two directors from failed rival HE Simm which collapsed into administration last month.

Kimpton, which has been going since 1963, has picked up Ian Bruce, former operations director at HE Simm and Peter O’Keeffe, former work winning director.

The pair have been joined by senior project manager Neil Davies, lead mechanical estimator John Glynn and Shane Hartley, who was previously electrical pre-construction lead at the firm.

The firm underwent a second MBO last year led by managing director Tim Davis who said: “Kimpton has a new outlook, with fresh leadership, and that has been further reinforced with the recruitment of a stellar team of five talented and experienced industry operators.

“Ian, Peter, Neil, John and Shane each bring a wealth of specialist client experience and we are delighted to be able to blend them with the existing expertise within our business as we set about achieving our next phase of expansion across a range of client service areas.”

The first MBO took place in 2001 when founder Eric Kimpton retired.

In its last set of accounts for the year to September 2024, Kimpton’s turnover fell 5% to £24.5m with pre-tax profit down 80% to £1m.

HE Simm & Son was set up in 1948 and in its last set of results filed at Companies House posted a revenue of £118m in the 17 months to December 2023.

Administrators said a series of loss-making jobs in London blew a £20m hole in the firm’s accounts with unsecured creditors owed £18m as a result of its implosion which saw all 127 jobs go.