Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Jobs lost as Fife rail infrastructure firm hits buffers

Alistair Cochrane led a management buy-out of Pipe and Piling Supplies in 2015.
Alistair Cochrane led a management buy-out of Pipe and Piling Supplies in 2015.

A Fife rail infrastructure firm with sales of more than £17 million last year has collapsed into administration following a cashflow crisis.

Just six staff were left at Pipe & Piling Supplies Limited of Glenrothes after adverse trading conditions forced the business to lay off 10 staff in recent months.

The remaining employees have now been made redundant after joint administrators Tom MacLennan and Iain Fraser of FRP Advisory were brought in and the business was immediately closed down.

The administrators said a  delay to a key contract with Network Rail was central to the failure of the firm,  which also had a second operations site at Bridlington in East Yorkshire.

“Pipe and Piling Supplies Limited was a well-established provider to the rail infrastructure market and had been contracted to work on the major Network Rail infrastructure maintenance contract,” Mr MacLennan said.

Pipe & Piling Supplies fortunes suffered after delays to a major contract with Network Rail

“Unfortunately, after a delay in this contract the company was forced to seek to diversify its activities.

“This has ultimately proved unsuccessful, resulting in significant cashflow difficulties which unfortunately could not be resolved.

“As joint administrators we have appointed specialist construction agents to assist in reviewing the company’s remaining contracts and are focused on maximising asset realisations and debtor collections, as well as working closely with all agencies, including the Redundancy Payments Office, to ensure that employees receive every support at this difficult time.”

The piling and steel fabrications specialist was sold in a management buy-out for an undisclosed sum in 2015 to Alistair Cochrane, who had run the business for seven years as managing director. Around 70 staff were on the books at that time.

Latest accounts signed off by Mr Cochrane in June last year, show the group generated revenues of £17.85 million in the 12 months to February 28, 2017, down from £23.5m in the prior year.

Pre-tax profits in 2017 came in at £1.22m, a slight fall from the £1.42m reported in 2016.