Britain's largest dedicated manufacturer of flexible circuit boards for electronic devices has been placed into administration.
Steve Adshead and Gil Lemon, from accountancy and investment management group Smith & Williamson, were appointed joint administrators of Teknoflex Interconnect Solutions Ltd in Chichester, West Sussex, today, Monday, July 14.
The initial focus will be on running the business as a going concern in order to fulfil existing orders from customers, operating from the existing high-tech premises in Quarry Lane.
Mr Adshead is from the restructuring and recovery services team at Smith & Williamson's South Coast office in Southampton.
He said: "A new management team bought the business out of administration 18 months ago with the intention of turning it around.
"However, difficult trading conditions and a high fixed-cost base, together with competition from low-cost base operations overseas, meant that the business sadly could not survive."
He continued: "We are exploring possibilities for the sale of elements of the business and seeking to maximise returns for creditors which includes the staff.
"Teknoflex's roots date back to the 1950s and the firm went on to become the UK's largest supplier of flexible and flex-rigid multilayer circuits and assemblies. But regrettably, for the 90 staff at Teknoflex, there was no viable alternative to administration.
"It is always sad to have to call it a day on a hitherto British manufacturing success story - our thoughts are very much with the staff at such a difficult time for them.
"Measures will be taken to support eligible staff in making their claims to the National Insurance Fund, which will pay them some of the entitlements that the company cannot. "
Teknoflex's breadth of technological capability and in-house design, assembly and testing facilities have been at the forefront of flexi circuit manufacture. Its products touch the lives of millions of us, from computers to medical devices.
Products have been used in various sectors, such as defence, aerospace, communications, medical, automotive/motorsport, industrial and consumer.
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