Liquidators have been appointed to a Lisburn-based aerospace company.
Causeway Aero Limited, previously known as Belfast Aircraft Stress Engineers (BASE), is to be wound up owing around £1.5 million to HMRC and creditors, according to documents published by Companies House.
The company, which specialised in the manufacture of aircraft interior components as well as engineering design and stress analysis, is a subsidiary of the Causeway Aero Group, which also has sites in Sligo and Bristol.
Liquidators from Belfast-based Interpath Advisory were called in on December 19 2023 as part of a voluntary winding up move.
It followed a resolution passed by the company’s board on the same date, which said that owing to its liabilities, the firm could not continue its business.
The aerospace engineering services specialist was originally set up in 2000, but was acquired by the Causeway Aero Group in 2018, which relocated its 16-strong design, stress and technical team from Dundonald to a 39,000 sq ft facility in Lisburn.
It was renamed Causeway Aero Limited in November 2018.
It marked the first acquisition by the Causeway Aero Group, established in 2016 by companies including Moyola Precision Engineering and Denroy Plastics, to help bid for bigger contracts.
The growth of the group was boosted by a £500,000 loan from the Invest NI and British Business Bank backed Growth Finance Fund in April 2021.
The group went on to acquire Race Completions Ltd and Pitch Aircraft Seating Systems in England, centring GB operations in Bristol.
The Causeway Aero Group also expanded across the border, opening a 7,000 sq ft composites production facility in Sligo during 2021.
But the entire aerospace industry has been severely impacted since the global outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020.
The last set of accounts filed by Causeway Aero Limited show it had 28 staff in 2022.
Documents published on Companies House show it ceased trading in December 2023 owing just over £400,000 to HMRC and £1.1 million to unsecured creditors.
That includes £835,000 owed to its parent group as ‘intercompany creditor’ and £236,722 owed to dozens of businesses.
The report from Interpath Advisory estimates just £78,947 will be realised from the firm’s assets for preferential creditors, which normally includes employee claims and HMRC.
According to Companies House, Causeway Aero Group Limited is not subject to the same winding up order, but the most senior figures associated with the company have stepped aside as directors in recent weeks and months.
