News

Ramage Distribution has called in the administrators and made 350 staff redundant, blaming tough trading conditions and the difficulties of integrating UFD Group, which it acquired in July. Blair Nimmo and Gary Fraser from KPMG Restructuring were appointed as joint administrators on Wednesday 9 April.

Ramage bought United Freight Distribution out of administration and it closed UFD's Hemel Hempstead depot with the loss of 65 jobs shortly afterwards. In January, the chairman and chief executive  at Ramage, Neil Cunningham, said that turnover at the company had nearly tripled to £35m since the acquisition. However, the fleet and the staff numbers had been reduced.

In a statement, the administrators said Ramage had suffered from difficult trading conditions in a highly competitive market with slim margins and rising overheads. It also had difficulties integrating the operations of UFD. The administrators added they had to make 350 staff redundant due to lack of available cashflow. However, they said it was too early to give a likely outcome for creditors.