Lawton Yarns looks to a new future
January 14, 2025
The UK’s largest woollen yarn spinner, Lawton Yarns Limited, has undergone a new re-structuring to secure its future after the company entered into administration days before Christmas.
West Yorkshire-based Lawtons is a key supplier to UK carpet manufacturers but has been challenged by increasing costs and difficult trading conditions in recent years.
Originally a family-owned business, Lawton Yarns experienced a turbulent period in 2019 which saw its parent group enter insolvency. The yarn manufacturer was acquired by Breal Capital in 2020.
A management buyout backed by Secure Trust Bank followed in 2022 to take the £30m-turnover business back into private ownership but Lawtons announced on December 20 that PricewaterhouseCoopers had been called in as administrators.
A
review of the business last year concluded that significant cost savings were needed in order to remain a viable business and Lawtons
decided to outsource 50% of production
overseas as well as reduce its workforce and sell off surplus assets. Over 100 employees remain with the business.
Now the management team trading as LY Manufacturing Limited have bought the business out of administration in a £3.3m pre-pack deal which settles bank debts and HMRC liabilities but leaves behind some £4m of trade creditors unpaid.
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