Welsh Contractor Ceases Trading After 87 Years with 104 Job Loss

AFTER 87 years in business, Jehu Group has ceased trading, resulting in 104 employees losing their jobs.

Headquartered in Bridgend, Wales, the third-generation building contractor worked across Wales and the South West.

Jehu Group was the parent company to the Jehu Project Services and Waterstone Homes businesses, and administrators Begbies Traynor is preparing to place the companies into administration.

Jehu specialised in construction and development projects for social landlords and councils in Wales and the South West of England.

Ceased Trading

In accounts to 30 September 2020 the business showed turnover of £111.27m with a £4.01m pre-tax loss. In the 12 months to 31 March 2019, it made a pre-tax profit of £1.15m on revenue of £51.7m.

Announcing its collapse into administration on Friday 21 October 2022, out of 104 staff, 5 were kept on to help with the administration process.

Managing Partner at Begbies Traynor in South Wales, Huw Powell, said: “This situation underlines the crushing impact of the current inflationary environment on an established and successful business. Pre-pandemic, the group was highly profitable and by 2019 had almost £7million in net assets. It continued to win high profile projects and was an award-winning business. However, delays in completing projects caused by the pandemic and subsequent cost increases caused a severe cash-flow crisis that it could not recover from, despite support from key stakeholders.

“It is hugely disappointing to see the group cease trading in these circumstances and highly regrettable that efforts to secure its future were unsuccessful, where the current political and economic turmoil counted against them.

“We are aware of the negative impact that this will have on the supply chain and hope that sub contractors will be able to work with the group’s customers to find the best possible solutions to complete existing projects.

“From our interactions with staff whilst we have provided advice to the group, it is clear that they remained loyal to and were proud to work for the business. Employees are of course devastated by today’s news, and I sincerely hope that their track record of delivering successful projects will stand them in good stead to gain new employment quickly.”

Jehu Group

Delivering construction and development projects in Wales and the South West, Jehu Project Services Limited had 15 live contracts with registered social landlords and Local Authorities, with a remaining value in excess of £100m.

Waterstone Homes Limited was delivering a further two contracts for registered social landlords. Jehu Group Limited provided support services for the subsidiary businesses.

The company was established in 1935 by Jack Jehu and has remained family-run for three generations, with a fourth generation recently becoming part of the workforce.

Delivering fixed-price contracts with single digit margins that were agreed before the pandemic, the group’s cash reserves have been decimated by cost increases in excess of 25%.

The directors of the companies, Marc and Simon Jehu, said: “This is a truly devastating day for the business started by our grandfather over 85 years ago. Every possible option to keep the business alive has been completely exhausted and it is with desolate hearts that we find ourselves with no choice but to cease trading. We did everything possible to avoid closure, but we were fighting a battle that simply couldn’t be won due to the successive economic shocks of the past couple of years.

“Our thoughts are first and foremost with our devoted colleagues who have lost their jobs, many of whom have given more than 25 years of service. We would like to thank the loyal and steadfast clients and supply chain who supported us, often carrying the added burden of those who sought to capitalise on our difficulties.

“We understand this is a worrying time for our colleagues, supply chain partners and customers. We are working with Begbies Traynor to get the best outcome from an impossibly difficult situation.”

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