SIA Group provided a comprehensive, swift and incisive asset valuation and disposal project to assist in the sale of the company from administration as fast as possible.

Axminster, a well-known heritage brand and largest local employer, attracted significant national media interest during this project. The SIA team were on site very quickly to assess the situation. Key issues were identified in the stock and book debts, namely retention of title, contractual debt, warranties, poor quality stock reporting systems, lack of visibility in standard costing and margins.

“SIA’s pioneering Accelerated Inventory Realisation (AIR) programme was instrumental in achieving the right outcome for Axminster.”

Working closely with all stakeholders of Axminster Carpets, the SIA team;
• Collected contractual book debts
• Provided a detailed 120-day stock exit strategy to work out the carpet & yarn stock from factory outlets should the sale of the business and assets not succeed
• Secured the premises across multiple locations
• Conducted a global private treaty sale campaign to sell large, high value and technical machinery, followed by a global online auction sale for remaining assets.
• Completed health and safety and environmental risk assessments.

£18m was achieved from total asset realisations. with £1.85m achieved from the private treaty sale and online auction of redundant yarn production plant & machinery, which was sold to buyers globally.


Paul Craig, Managing Director, SIA Group, said:

“SIA’s pioneering Accelerated Inventory Realisation (AIR) programme was instrumental in achieving the right outcome for Axminster. Our team worked round the clock to exceed stakeholder expectations. This was exemplified by the sale of £1.1m of obsolete and slower moving stock through the company’s two factory stores. A margin of 17.1% was achieved on these sales, which was an exceptional result considering the inventory had been written off by the company.”

Josh Dutfield, Managing Director, Axminster Carpets Limited, said:

“Above and beyond their excellent asset valuation and disposal skills, what absolutely shone through was how many times the SIA team would go the extra mile. This was a complicated situation, but Matt and Paul handled any and all difficulties very professionally. They worked very closely with the management team and built a first class relationship with them.”

Kevin Buckett, Senior Manager, Duff & Phelps, said:

“What impressed me was their commerciality and drive to get the best result possible. They were on site a great deal and were meticulous in their approach. To say they were flexible and reactive would be an understatement. I recall one situation where a national TV crew arrived at the site. Paul was there immediately and managed to persuade them to leave without any fuss, which was very impressive.”