Shetland Electrical Services owner goes into liquidation

Lerwick firm Shetland Electrical Services is to be sold after its Elgin-based parent company succumbed to cashflow problems.

The No.1 Group Limited has been forced into provisional liquidation after bad debts from customers reached £1.6 million.

SES is based at Rudda Park, Sound, and carries out electrical, plumbing and heating work around Shetland, recently branching out with a bathroom showroom.

No details of its prospective new owner have been released. Staff at SES today said they could not comment on the situation.

The provisional liquidator, Michael Reid of Aberdeen-based Meston Reid & Co, said around 30 jobs would be saved by the sale of SES and the division in Elgin, North Electrical Services.

He said the No.1 Group had been left under serious financial strain when a major client went into liquidation with unpaid invoices totalling £550,000. Over the past 12 months the company had also been left owed money from two large contracts.

The directors took steps recently to create agreements to sell SES and NES. Aberdeen Mechanical Services in Aberdeen and Inspired Interiors in Buckie are still available for sale with 32 jobs at stake.

Murray Thain, who founded No.1 Electrical in 1980, said the sale of the Shetland division would help preserve jobs, complete contract obligations and maintain ongoing customer support.

He said it was “a real shame” that the company had become just another casualty of the financial climate.

No.1 Group director Graham Cormack said the company was sitting with work worth £4 million on its order book but due to the cashflow crisis caused by contractors not paying it was unable to continue trading. “It is a terrible scenario that we are unable to drive forward and carry out the contracts we have been awarded.”

The Shetland part of the business was started by George Kerr under the name SEPS and had a popular shop on Commercial Street selling electrical goods and records until about 30 years ago.