The administrator appointed following the collapse of Anglesey recycling firm Orthios has released a statement. Business Live revealed on Tuesday that the main investor in Orthios had called in administrators.
Orthios had taken on the Anglesey Aluminium site in Holyhead in 2016 after smelting came to an end in 2009. It built a materials recycling facility (MRF) and was in the process of developing a Plastics-to-Oil (P-2-O) unit.
But Business Live reported last week that firms had been in touch about outstanding invoices. The company said a management buy-out of Orthios was underway.
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This collapsed and this week around 100 staff were told they had lost their jobs. Begbies Traynor has now been appointed as administrator by the main investor.
They have now released a statement. They said: "Begbies Traynor was appointed as the Administrator to Orthios (Anglesey) Technologies Limited on 25 March 2022 and to its subsidiaries Orthios Feedstock (Anglesey) Limited and Orthios Otech 5 Limited on 30 March 2022. The Company and its subsidiaries operated a Recycling Centre as well as being involved in the development of an associated Plastics to Oil technology plant.
"The group had been reliant on substantial investor funding and was heavily loss making and required further funding for the next stage of development, which could not be obtained. Accordingly, Asher Miller and Stephen Katz from Begbies Traynor were appointed as Joint Administrators. At the point when the Administrators were appointed, there were no funds in the company leaving them with no way to retain staff.
"Jason Greenhalgh, a partner in the North West team of Begbies Traynor, is leading a delegation at the site to answer queries that staff will no doubt have at this challenging time and assist with their claims from HM Government’s Redundancy Payments Office. The Joint Administrators are currently working to secure as successful an outcome as possible for all stakeholders involved.”
The firm secured a £1.2m UK Government-backed Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme last year and in January were toured by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “This will be a worrying time for workers, their families and the wider Holyhead community. We stand ready to offer support to those impacted by this announcement.”
