Ensor to de-list on AIM in order to liquidate

Building materials company Ensor Holdings is to cease trading on AIM and re-register as a private company, as it seeks to sell its subsidiaries and liquidate.

The Manchester-based company is to de-list from AIM on 3 January and is expected to re-register as a private company around 1 February.

Ensor Holdings has been trying to sell the company since May 2015 , but could not find a buyer, instead it decided to sell its subsidiaries, in order to maximise shareholder value.

In July, it sold OSA Door Parts for £2.5m and Technocover for £10m, having previously sold EBP to Technover’s management for £1.44m, gaining a profit of £168,000.

The freehold property occupied by EBP has also been sold for £147,000 against the book value and the disposal of its land holdings in Woodville and Stockport, which realised a profit of £785,000.

An annuity to secure all future liabilities of the Ensor Group Pension Fund, as a precursor to a buyout and winding up of the scheme, was bought in December 2015 for £5.4m, and the process to wind up the scheme is almost complete.

The company said it is speaking to a number of buyers for Ellard and Wood’s Packaging and when these are sold it intends to liquidate.

For the four months ended 31 July, it reported revenue of £4.28m, with a gross profit of £1.1m, compared to the year earlier of £12m revenue and gross profit of £3.34m.

Shares in Ensor were down 16.92% to 54p at 1223 GMT.