Titanic shipbuilder Harland & Wolff collapses into administration

Harland & Wolff, the Belfast-based shipbuilder that produced the Titanic, has collapsed into administration.

The company has appointed administrators from Teneo to oversee the process after failing to find new funding to stay afloat. So far only the parent company, Harland & Wolff Group Holdings plc, is in administration, and its shipyard subsidiaries are continuing to trade.

An announcement on Friday by the company, which employs 66 staff at its holding firm, confirmed that jobs would be lost. It also confirmed that shareholders would lose their investments, a fate in prospect since trading in on London’s Aim junior market was suspended in July.

A statement from Harland & Wolff said: “The administrators will unfortunately be required to reduce the headcount upon appointment. A number of employees will be retained to provide certain required services to the operational companies under a transitional services agreement.

“Following today’s appointment of administrators, the company reconfirms its position that the strategic review will not result in any returns to shareholders of Harland & Wolff Group Holdings plc.”

The group has been looking for buyers for the companies operating its shipyards. Earlier this year about 1,600 people were working across its businesses, which include shipyards in Devon and Scotland as well as Belfast.

The Belfast yards alone employed as many as 20,000 people in their heyday, while the yellow Samson and Goliath cranes installed in the 1970s still loom high on the city skyline. The yard most famously built the Titanic ocean liner, which sank on its maiden voyage in 1912.

The UK government had pledged to build three Navy support ships at the Belfast yard, in a contract awarded to a consortium of Harland & Wolff and Navantia, the Spanish state-owned shipbuilder.

The collapse leaves two dominant British shipbuilders, BAE Systems and Babcock International, the latter of which is reportedly considering a bid for the Belfast yard.

Dan Coatsworth, an investment analyst at AJ Bell, said it was a “sad day” for the shipbuilder. He said: “The underlying operating business will keep ticking over while the administrator tries to find a buyer. The pressure is now on to find a new owner as quickly as possible, with Babcock seen as a possible buyer.”