8:25 am, January 13, 2009
HULL-based Honda dealer deVries is the latest victim of the credit crunch, calling in administrators late last week.
Grant Thornton Leeds has been appointed administrators of the Honda dealer, which was founded in 1991.
Operating 5 sites, ‘JDV’ is represented in Hull, York, Scarborough, Northallerton and Stockton on Tees. Quoted turnover is £62 million per year.
The receivers say they are working with Honda to keep all the dealers open. The intent is to sell them as going concerns – hopefully retaining all the 130 staff employed across the 5 retailers.
However, Grant Thornton was unable to rule out redundancies, despite all sites currently operating as normal.
Keith Hinds of Grant Thornton UK LLP said: ‘We are currently looking at maintaining as many trading operations as possible, but we cannot discount the need to close some or all of the sites if buyers could not be found in the near future.
‘We are currently working with Honda to safeguard customer deposits, and are maintaining full aftersales services to customers.’
Bernard Bradley, general manager, Honda Cars, said: ‘This move was unavoidable due to major trading issues within the group, which have been exacerbated by the current financial downturn.
‘We will now be making every effort to contact and reassure customers in the vicinity of the dealerships who may be affected.’ Bradley took the unusual step of releasing a helpline number for worried customers: 0845 200 8000.
Lack of cashflow is the cause of the Honda dealer going into administration. This is due to a drop in vehicles sales – and, says Grant Thornton, affected both new and used sales.
