ONE of the north's major car dealership groups David Prentice in Portadown, whose brands include BMW and Mini, has gone into administration.
Tom Keenan and Scott Murray of Keenan Corporate Finance in Belfast have been appointed as the joint administrators.
But it has emerged that all of the car trading business of David Prentice (Cars) Ltd has been transferred to a new company called Prentice Portadown Limited.
And its managing director Joanne Houston (nee Prentice) insists it will be business as usual, with all 65 staff transferred to the new company.
According to Companies House, its registered address will be 27-29 Gordon Street in Belfast at the offices of Fitch Chartered Accountants.
Michael Fitch had been appointed as a director, but his position was terminated on August 10.
It is understood the newly-named company will continue to operate from its existing showroom at Carn in Portadown.
“Our chief concern has been our staff, our customers and our brand as a premier car dealership in Northern Ireland for over 30 years," said Ms Houston.
"The establishment of this new company means that all of our staff will be retained and with strong backing from BMW/Mini, our products and services for our customers will be as good, if not better than ever."
She added: “This is a new era for us which will see our company focus solely on doing what it does best – providing a premium BMW/Mini dealership in Northern Ireland now and well into the future.”
It is understood there were a number of issues in David Prentice (Cars) Ltd around property, which forced the administration.
In the last full year for which accounts for David Prentice (Cars) were submitted, it swung from a £1.6m loss into a modest £11,580 profit.
That came on a turnover of £32.3m (up from £29.2m the previous year).
In 2004 Prentice opened a BMW dealership in Omagh, but closed it in June 2013 and merged into a single site. Part of the site at Omagh was sold for £425,000.
