Stormont owes £25m
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• Receivers of one of the biggest truck, van and car hire companies in the south-east have revealed that the company owes around £25m, mainly to finance house UDT and Ford Motor Credit, but say Stormont, which had a £11.8m turnover, operated profitably. It is not known what Stormont Vehicle Hire's net trading profit was.
Joint receiver Tony Thompson of KPMG Peat Marwick McLintock says parent Stormont Group borrowed large sums of money through Stormont Vehicle Hire—which in turn bought its vehicles through other Stormont Group companies. Thompson claims Stormont Group is "not profitable itself".
Dartford, Kent-based Stormont Vehicle Hire's 2,300 strong hire fleet was built up in seven years; of these, 115 were contract hire and daily rental municipal vehicles.
The company has worked with 20 local authorities in the southeast.
Stormont has a contract hire fleet of 452 vans and trucks and a short-term rental fleet of 511 commercial vehicles. Overall, the company has vehicle assets of more than £15m.
KPMG's St Albans' office has received more than 100 enquiries for the business, which is being sold as a going concern. It went into receivership on 24 September.