RF Webb and Sons - Lowe's company in trouble.

[Long Shot]

This has been lifted from the business pages of tonight's Echo

 

CREDIT PLEA BY FIRM OWNED BY FAMILY OF SAINTS CHAIRMAN

 

An historic Hampshire company owned by the family of Saints chairman Rupert Lowe, is today appealing to its creditors not to put it out of business. 60-year-old building services engineering name RF Webb and Sons (RFW) has had to lay off 19 of its 53 workers following the termination of a £4m contract connected to the building of Portsmouth's Queen Alexandra Hospital. A well-known regional family company, RFW was the subject of a management buyout in 2002 before being bought by Lowe Holdings for an undisclosed sum in 2005. Both Rupert Lowe and his father Patrick are registered as directors of Lowe Holdings, which is also headquartered at his father's Gloucestershire farm.

[Weston Super Saint]

Apart from the tenuous Lowe link - we all know it's his Dad's money anyway - how is this Saint's related?

[Gemmel]

Apart from the tenuous Lowe link - we all know it's his Dad's money anyway - how is this Saint's related?

 

If the company is proved to be trading insolvently and goes into administration, lowe could be banned from being a director of a ltd or plc company.

[Weston Super Saint]

If the company is proved to be trading insolvently and goes into administration, lowe could be banned from being a director of a ltd or plc company.

 

He'll resign - from that company - the day before that happens

[Gemmel]

He'll resign - from that company - the day before that happens

 

Wouldn't make any difference, he would still be liable upto 18 months (I think) after his resignation.

 

They would have to prove negligence and fraudulent trading (trading insolvency) so im sure it would never happen, but as a director he is accountable.

[WealdSaint]

Times are hard for Rupert just like everybody else.

 

The only thing that this might mean is he'd sell his shares in saints for a lower price.........if he could find a buyer!

[Mowgli]

yawn....

 

.... it comes to something that a Saints bulletin board will focus on the company tenuously connected with a man who is tenuously connected with the team they (allegedly) support. Might it not be more interesting to talk about the Youth Cup game tonight - which we would have won were it not for a Derby equaliser in the fifth minute of injury time. Respect due to those who went and watched that game.

[ottery st mary]

yawn....

 

.... it comes to something that a Saints bulletin board will focus on the company tenuously connected with a man who is tenuously connected with the team they (allegedly) support. Might it not be more interesting to talk about the Youth Cup game tonight - which we would have won were it not for a Derby equaliser in the fifth minute of injury time. Respect due to those who went and watched that game.

 

Won 3-1 after extra time

[Mowgli]

Good result. Always hard to recover from a late equaliser like that.

[ottery st mary]

According to OS Derby equalised in 90+5 which must have been heartbreaking at the time...But good on the youth to go on and win 3-1......

If we can get Navyred back we could have update.....Otherwise hoping someone else gives the SP..love to hear how we will fair with this group.

 

COYR

[solentstars]

Apart from the tenuous Lowe link - we all know it's his Dad's money anyway - how is this Saint's related?

it mentions lowe thats all we need another thread about the dickhead,by the way saints youth beat derby 3-1 incase anyone is interested in the football side of things.

[Delmary]

This has been lifted from the business pages of tonight's Echo

 

CREDIT PLEA BY FIRM OWNED BY FAMILY OF SAINTS CHAIRMAN

 

An historic Hampshire company owned by the family of Saints chairman Rupert Lowe, is today appealing to its creditors not to put it out of business. 60-year-old building services engineering name RF Webb and Sons (RFW) has had to lay off 19 of its 53 workers following the termination of a £4m contract connected to the building of Portsmouth's Queen Alexandra Hospital. A well-known regional family company, RFW was the subject of a management buyout in 2002 before being bought by Lowe Holdings for an undisclosed sum in 2005. Both Rupert Lowe and his father Patrick are registered as directors of Lowe Holdings, which is also headquartered at his father's Gloucestershire farm.

Shame as it was once a really well run family business.

[ottery st mary]

Shame as it was once a really well run family business.

 

Heard the same story about a football team in Southampton not so long ago.

[Fowllyd]

yawn....

 

.... it comes to something that a Saints bulletin board will focus on the company tenuously connected with a man who is tenuously connected with the team they (allegedly) support. Might it not be more interesting to talk about the Youth Cup game tonight - which we would have won were it not for a Derby equaliser in the fifth minute of injury time. Respect due to those who went and watched that game.

 

In some respects I agree, but to describe the connection between a company and one of its directors as tenuous is way off. And as for the connection between a company and its executive chairman - tenuous? Do you own a dictionary?

[benjii]

In some respects I agree, but to describe the connection between a company and one of its directors as tenuous is way off. And as for the connection between a company and its executive chairman - tenuous? Do you own a dictionary?

 

Yes, quite, was about to post the same thing myself.

 

Anyone who thinks Lowe is only "tenuously" connected to what is happening on the pitch at the moment is a mentalist.

[um pahars]

yawn....

 

.... it comes to something that a Saints bulletin board will focus on the company tenuously connected with a man who is tenuously connected with the team they (allegedly) support.

 

I must say I'm not overly sure about the relevance of this to Saints, but had to chuckle at the piece in bold above.

 

If only Lowe was tenuously connected to this Club;)

[offix]

Times are hard for Rupert just like everybody else.

 

No, times are hard for those being fired. This must be an illustration of his often mentioned great business skills?

[Weston Super Saint]

No, times are hard for those being fired. This must be an illustration of his often mentioned great business skills?

 

I'm sure he can find space for them in his dynamic investment banking business :shock:

[St Steve]

This has been lifted from the business pages of tonight's Echo

 

CREDIT PLEA BY FIRM OWNED BY FAMILY OF SAINTS CHAIRMAN

 

An historic Hampshire company owned by the family of Saints chairman Rupert Lowe, is today appealing to its creditors not to put it out of business. 60-year-old building services engineering name RF Webb and Sons (RFW) has had to lay off 19 of its 53 workers following the termination of a £4m contract connected to the building of Portsmouth's Queen Alexandra Hospital. A well-known regional family company, RFW was the subject of a management buyout in 2002 before being bought by Lowe Holdings for an undisclosed sum in 2005. Both Rupert Lowe and his father Patrick are registered as directors of Lowe Holdings, which is also headquartered at his father's Gloucestershire farm.

 

I wish I had a Gloucestershire Farm. near Bourton on the water would be nice.

[LostBoys]

I do not think that we can take any pleasure in Mr Lowe's other problems. I feel sorry for the 19 people who have lost their jobs and the remaining 34 whose jobs rely on him. It is never a good idea in my experience to advise the world of your difficulties as it tends to galvanise your creditors in the wrong direction.

[chivvy1664]

Perhaps it employed an unproven egineering manager from overseas that was succesful with working with young aprentices and got rid of most of the experienced staff.

[Snowballs2]

As much as I dislike Lowe and cronies...I feel for his employees who have been made jobless. It is a horrible time of the year for that to happen.

However I am sure that Lowe is more worried about his personal money than employees jobs

[Saint_John]

Here is an Echo article from 2002 when the Management buyout took place - Note the words "highly successful" and "£15M and more than 150 employees.

I think it was sold in 2005 to Lowe Holdings. I wonder who will get the blame the "customers" or the "previous board".

 

http://archive.thisishampshire.net/2002/7/16/62978.html

 

 

MD secures RF Webb after buyout

 

From the archive, first published Tuesday 16th Jul 2002.

 

HAMPSHIRE corporate finance specialists Fanshawe Lofts, has just completed a management buyout of Southampton electrical and mechanical contracting company RF Webb.

 

The highly successful family company has been bought by its managing director of ten years, Paul Stratford, for an undisclosed sum, enabling the Webb family to retire from the business.

 

RF Webb was established in 1932 and currently has a turnover of around £15m and more than 150 employees. It specialises in electrical contracting, heating, air conditioning and ventilation and has specialist divisions in fire alarms and data.

 

A Fanshawe Lofts team led by Rosemary Penn-Newman and Peter Grinyer project-managed the MBO. They acted as financial advisors to the purchaser, raising finance and working capital and undertaking due diligence and financial forecasting as well as co-ordinating the project. Solicitors for the MBO were Lamport Bassitt and finance was provided by Lloyds TSB Bank.

 

[hughieslastminutegoal]

...No, times are hard for those being fired....

 

He probably had a little meeting with them to say that he's not letting them go because of the money, he just doesn't want to stand in their way...

[Mole]

It´d be tragic if daddy Lowe had his house turned into a hotel.

[Long Shot]

Here is an Echo article from 2002 when the Management buyout took place - Note the words "highly successful" and "£15M and more than 150 employees.

I think it was sold in 2005 to Lowe Holdings. I wonder who will get the blame the "customers" or the "previous board".

 

http://archive.thisishampshire.net/2002/7/16/62978.html

 

 

Thanks St John - I can't quite work out why Lowe senior would want to buy this sort of business when it is far from his base. Was there ever a "tie in" between Webbs and the club when the stadium was built?

[bridge too far]

Thanks St John - I can't quite work out why Lowe senior would want to buy this sort of business when it is far from his base. Was there ever a "tie in" between Webbs and the club when the stadium was built?

 

LS - could it be because Lowe Holdings already owns a number of electrical engineering companies?

 

http://www.loweoliver.co.uk/loweholdings/

 

I wonder why Webb lost the contract at QA in Portsmouth :confused: I'll ask some of my contacts there. I was surprised to see that Lowe & Oliver named Oxford Hospitals as a client. I worked on a number of capital programmes there and I don't recall them. In fact the first time I heard of Lowe & Oliver was on this forum

[70's Mike]

Reg must be doing cart wheels in his grave.

[bridge too far]

However, it now appears that a solution has been agreed by the creditors

 

http://www.contractjournal.com/Articles/2008/12/11/63070/rf-webb-saved-after-creditors-agree-rescue-plan.html

[bridge too far]

And I've read today that Rupey's buddy / fellow investor in W H Ireland, David Ross, has had to resign a further 3 directorships, having resigned from Carphone Warehouse because of alleged infringements of shareholding rules. According to the article, he has secured loans against shareholdings in other companies too :shock:

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/dec/11/bigyellowgroup-carphonewarehousegroup

 

I wonder if he will have to resign from W H Ireland too?

Edited 11 December, 2008 by bridge too far
oops wrong link :(

[Mowgli]

I must say I'm not overly sure about the relevance of this to Saints, but had to chuckle at the piece in bold above.

 

If only Lowe was tenuously connected to this Club;)

 

Ah but I was quite careful to say team rather than club The main object was to try and head off this hate / blame campaign and try and get people talking about football cos I still think if we focus on that this forum would be a much nicer place to visit. Nowadays I find myself logging on less and less.