Charlestown factory to re-open

Charlestown steel factory to re-open after buy-out

Anton McNulty

FORMER employees of Stanta, the Charlestown-based steel fabrication group, received a welcome boost last week, when a Cork business consortium bought the company and re-opened the factory yesterday (Monday).
Stanta Ltd had gone into voluntary liquidation in April of this year following the accumulation of debts which was blamed on the general downturn in the economy. However, last Thursday the company was sold to a Cork business consortium consisting of Tim Crowley of Crowley Engineering and Sidney McElhinney of Sidney McElhinney Limited.
The owners have said they will keep the company in Charlestown and hope to have 15 people working in the Mayo plant in the next three to four weeks. Mr Sidney McElhinney told The Mayo News that they could not promise anything but were confident the company would succeed. He added that he hoped to employ as many of the former staff as possible and they hoped to employ between 70 and 100 people around Ireland in the next 12 months.
“We have a lease on the existing premises and we are confident it will be successful because it has been successful in Charlestown in the past. The company opened this morning (Monday) and we are hoping to get the business back up and running, with 15 people employed in the first three to four weeks. We would also hope to have 70 to 100 people employed in the next 12 months.
“To be fair, there is no point promising 70 jobs for the people of Charlestown; there will be people employed in other parts of the country, but we hope to bring on as many of the existing staff as possible. We have met and spoken with with key personnel, a number of whom were unemployed, and they are looking forward to their new jobs. With all going well, we will offer more jobs but there will be no promises. We still have to secure clients but we are confident we will be able to do that,” he said.
Earlier in the year, Stanta owed about €2.7 million to more than 150 creditors, and following consultation with their financial advisors, the directors decided they had no option but to place the company into voluntary liquidation. Dublin accountancy firm Kavanagh Fennell was appointed liquidator on April 1.
Stanta Ltd had been owned by the Madden family from Ballaghaderreen and had been located in Charlestown for the past six years. The company employed up to 30 people in Charlestown, producing gauge steel frames for contractors in Ireland and Britain and was seen as the pioneers in the use of light gauge steel frame building systems in the country.
Sidney McElhinney Limited specialise in the interior refurbishment of buildings, and their work can be seen at the new CUH Maternity Hospital in Cork, the UCC Boole Library and the Cork Civic Offices. Tim Crowley is the owner of Tim Crowley Engineering, based in Glanmire in Cork, and has 35 years of engineering experience.
Mr McElhinney said he had worked with Stanta for the last five years and felt it was a good business, and it was ‘unfortunate’ that it had gone to the wall.
“I knew the owner well over the years and to be honest I felt it was a good company. Unfortunately Stanta had problems with contractors which put them to the wall and that is going to happen a lot of companies in the current climate because developers will not be able to pay them,” Mr McElhinney added.
The buy-out of the company was welcomed by Charlestown-based councillor, Gerry Murray who said that a number of companies had tried to buy the Stanta factory site. He said this was positive news for the town and hoped it would create new jobs for the area.