A supplier and maker of car parts on Tyneside has collapsed into administration with the loss of 25 jobs.
Trading has stopped at CPS Drivelink, which operated from premises on the Team Valley Industrial Estate. The company had specialised in a range of new and remanufactured driveline, steering and breaking products and was result of a merger between Commercial Propshaft Services Ltd - which started in 1989 - and the more recent Drivelink Ltd.
Administrators from insolvency specialists Begbies Traynor in Newcastle were appointed to the firm after it failed, citing changing dynamics in its market and competition from larger buying groups. Efforts to find a buyer for the firm also failed.
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CPS operated out of a 50,000 sqft base which housed engineering, manufacturing and warehouse activity. The firm's specialisation in propshafts - or driveshafts - had seen it develop capabilities in prototyping, small and large batch production. It had also delivered products to motorsport customers and marine operators, including driveshafts for speedboats.
Begbies Traynor's Andrew Little and Gillian Sayburn were appointed joint administrators of the business on April 4. A statement from Begbies Traynor said: "The business failed primarily due to a fundamental change in its core market of motor factors which have increasingly become part of buying groups which are importing their own product into the country rather than purchasing through intermediaries.
"Unfortunately, despite marketing the business prior to the appointment, a purchaser for CPS Drivelink as a going concern was unable to be found. The company has ceased trading with the loss of all 25 jobs."
In the UK automotive aftermarket - which includes component makers and suppliers - many distributors have become part of much large buying groups which can offer them favourable terms and prices.
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