| Caledonia Motor Group goes into receivership |
| Friday, 18 January 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Caledonia Motor Group has fallen into receivership with estimated debts of £20m and four of the group's sites have closed down. BDO Stoy Hayward has been appointed administrator of the ailing business and has announced 78 redundancies so far.  Dealerships in Blackpool, Newport, Manchester and Chester have shut their doors. Administrators appointedThe Warrington-based group, number 100 in the Motor Trader Top 200, operated 11 sites across the north west where it represents Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Citroen.
The group emerged from former Nissan entrepreneur Octav Botnar's AFG Group and was acquired by the multi-millionaire Barclay brothers in the early 1990s.
In 1999 the group was the subject of a management buyout and in 2003 shed its Renault business in a move to reduce debt.
A Caledonia employee told Motor Trader, that he and other workers had been told the business was "in the process of closing a deal" on its future ownership.
Dermot Power, business restructuring partner at BDO Stoy Hayward, said: “We are continuing to asses the future of the remaining individual dealerships and are currently in discussions with the car manufacturers and interested parties to work towards a rescue plan to secure the future of these dealerships”
Caledonia was unavailable for comment.
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Comments (28)
Martin Evans
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Hi Old Pals! I have ... Hi Old Pals! I have been out of the motor trade for far to long, been doing some research ref. a return to fleet/ leasing & Bang! Peter Portlock, Andy Turner, A&B even Woky! Just like the late 80's all over again! Anyway I am in the market if anyone wants any real quality B2B & B2C closers with 15 years fleet/ leasing experience! |
Happy Customer
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I'm pleased to say t... I'm pleased to say that I have purchased my New Fiat Punto from Chorley Group in Blackpool. It looks like they are spending alot of money on their showroom, so it looks like they are here to stay.The staff were all lovely to me, no pressure, just friendly, informative advice. I would definatley recommend them to friends and family. Good luck to the Chorley Group team and thankyou for my car. |
CMG-SO-OVER
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Good luck to all at ... Good luck to all at Newport. What a great Dealership. Only one that actually made profit to keep the sinking ship afloat. Will you have the same DP? If so, Vauxhall will be rubbing their hands together. P~rofit, profit, profit. |
sheep worrier
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Caledonia must hold ... Caledonia must hold some kind of record for turning around the once mighty AFG empire and bring it to its knees.It has nothing to do with the economy. Good senior managers adapt and diversify to help make the dealership work, but the one thing most overlook in the pursuit of their own glory is the part good and loyal members of staff play.Caledonia had many, but as usual, they are cast aside only to leave the motor trade. I worked at Newport for a number of years and the business was run well and extremely profitably and it is a scandal that it has been allowed to close. I feel sorry for the many loyal staff affected both at Newport and across the group. No one deserves to be treated this way including the customers. Citroen UK - where were you when this lot was going on ? |
Newport1
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Newport is closed an... Newport is closed and pendragon(evanshalshaw) have brought the site for the newport vauxhall franch. and also have taken on around 7 of there staff and may also take on some more. good luck to those who have lost there jobs, hope all can go well |
Andy Turner
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Hi woky thanks for y... Hi woky thanks for your comments.I must say I am always pleased to hear opinions of others and confirm that we will continue with our successful policy of allowing our highly experienced has beens to give cars away as and when we feel fit.Great to hear that we have a reputation for being compet*tive.ps Always looking for good new young blood if you up for the challenge. |
WOKY
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Andy. You have alway... Andy. You have always stole a living from the axb days so keep on doing it pal. |
WOKY
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Chorley nissan takin... Chorley nissan taking over a caledonia site. stick to what you are good at and carry on giving cars away with old hasbeens a s dps. |
CMG-SO-OVER
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Re: Anon
I also sta... Re: Anon I also started my career in the trade with Caledonia and those days were great, everyone had one goal and that's what enabled the MBO. Things went down from there and true RH and RT were so the demise if it and appointed by only one member of very senior management!! Pity for all the loyal staff that were still employed when it went, they are still people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
Caladonia Deraming
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Attn of: Peter Davie... Attn of: Peter Davies - Regarding your last posting - Couldn't agree with you more. The Motor Industry is fairly unique in that it's the one industry that you don't need formal qualifications to become a GM or DP on a 50K+ package. There aren't many industry's where you can do that! Traditionally, it's a case of if your face fits and you can 'Talk the Talk' you get the job! - I've experienced many GM/DP's that I wouldn't employ today and wouldn't have appointed in the first place - they come in, create havoc, replace line management with their 'mates', drive decent 'customer focused' staff out and demoralise the remaining staff and then clear off, usually just before they're about to be exposed for the poor manager they are. This is one of the many reasons as to why the industry is such a fluid one. In my view, there's plenty of Senior Management that talk about Customer Service, Customer Retention, Investors in People and other 'sound bite' statements, but don't truly understand the real meaning of them. It's really a case of achieving the numbers, at any cost, which is why we suffer from Bullyboy management and high staff turnover. |
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