Builder Rok falls to administration

Builder and building services group Rok has appointed PWC as administrators today (November 8).

The announcement comes after months of profit warnings and senior management changes and there is likely to be a number of merchants caught on the creditor list.

A statement released to the Stock Exchange this morning said: “The board of Rok plc (the “Company”) announces that it has resolved to put the company into administration and to make an application to the Financial Services Authority to suspend the listing and trading of the company’s ordinary shares on the stock exchange. It is anticipated that the administration and suspension will become effective shortly.”

Rok works for councils, schools, housing associations and businesses.

It is among the leading providers of building services to affordable housing and insurance customers.

The announcement comes just 10 weeks after social housing firm Connaught entered administration – leading to some 1,400 redundancies and a creditors’ bill running into millions.

At that time, Rok said it was in a strong position to pick up some of Connaught’s former contracts.

In August, the company – which employs almost 4,000 people – reported a £3.8m loss for the first half of the year.

Since this mornings announcement, rival Mears is thought to be trying to pick up most of Rok’s more lucrative contracts. A spokesman for administrators PWC says that any deals must be done quickly, or risk the work going elsewhere. He says the timeline needs to be ‘days rather than weeks’.

Earlier in the year, Rok released a profits warning and said the weather had hit its activities during January and February but it later transpired that its plumbing heating and electrical business had been suffering losses on unprofitable contracts.