Construction firm the McAvoy Group is to close its flagship factory in Co Tyrone and centralise all operations in Lisburn.
The offsite modular building specialist has put its 91,350 sq ft headquarters on the Ballynakilly Road near Coalisland up for sale, with an asking price of £2.5 million.
The company said yesterday that the decision to relocate the entire operation to its second manufacturing centre at Lisburn’s Knockmore Hill Industrial Estate, would not result in any redundancies.
It comes just six months after McAvoy announced a significant cash injection from London-based private equity firm Blantyre Capital. The investment group specialises in ‘relaunching good businesses with temporary financial challenges’.
McAvoy managing director Mark Lowry described the sale as “the final part of a post-Covid restructuring strategy to ensure that the business is in the best possible shape for the future”.
He said: “Like many businesses, we found that our people have worked effectively from home during the pandemic and we feel confident moving forward with a more flexible approach based from our Lisburn office just a short distance away.”
McAvoy has operated in the Coalisland and Dungannon area for almost 50 years. The current factory was completed in 1993, with a second phase built in 1998.
The firm has earned a reputation for being at the forefront in harnessing modern building processes, with a significant portfolio of offsite health and education construction projects across Ireland and Britain.
But it has been hit by financial difficulties over the past two years.
The last set of accounts filed with Companies House revealed a pre-tax loss of £1.8m for the 12 months ending October 31 2018, with revenues dropping by around £15m (25 per cent).
Its workforce in late 2018 stood at around 217.
The announcement of Blantyre Capital’s involvement in February 2020 has triggered significant restructuring within the group.
According to Companies House, a number of senior figures in the company have stepped down as directors in recent months.
Blantyre Capital was set up in 2019 by financier Mubashir Mukadam. Companies House now lists Mr Mukadam as holding significant influence or control of shares in McAvoy.
