Richard Bathgate and Graeme Bain of Johnston Carmichael LLP were appointed as joint administrators on 15 March 2024.

Mike Singer, managing director, advised: “As a result of cash flow issues, the board of directors is deeply saddened to announce that we have had to make the difficult decision to appoint administrators to the company with immediate effect.”

Mr Bathgate said: “Balgownie is a well-respected company that provides machinery to the agricultural, construction, and ground care industries in the North of Scotland. It has a trading history as far back as 1907 and is known for its quality and outstanding customer service.

“Unfortunately following the identification of cashflow difficulties, the board of directors has had to place both Balgownie Limited and Balgownie Rentals Limited into administration. This has resulted in 24 redundancies with 17 employees being retained to assist the joint administrators in marketing and selling the company’s assets.”

Employees are being supported as far as possible and partnership action for continuing employment (PACE) will be offering free advice and assistance to employees.

Mr Bathgate added: “I would encourage any party who may be interested in acquiring the business and its assets to contact Neil Woodgreaves of Johnston Carmichael.

“This is an opportunity to acquire the business and assets of a highly respected, long-established business which operates at its wholly owned trading premises in Inverurie and Turriff, Aberdeenshire.”

The joint administrators are urgently assessing the stock and asset positions at the Inverurie and Turriff depots to assess whether the business may be in a position to continue some limited trading in the short term under the administrators’ control whilst a purchaser is sought for the business as a going concern.

Any amounts outstanding to suppliers at the date of administration will rank as a claim against the company in administration and creditors will shortly receive a formal, written notification of the administration and the process for lodging a claim against the company.

In the event that the administrators require continuity of supply from any supplier beyond the date of administration, a member of the administrators’ team will be in direct contact with the supplier.