White Horse Machinery turns fortunes around with restructure

Since his appointment as chairman at the beginning of December, Leeds-based WHM has paid off a £5.8m debt to HSBC, sold its US subsidiary Konik to a management team led by US managing director Rodrigo Royo and closed its French business CCI.

Granite told PrintWeek that he had taken the company from the brink of bankruptcy, to a £250,000 profit in February, claiming it was now on course for a turnover of £30m.

In order to pay off the £5.8m debt, WHM adopted an aggressive debt collection programme and cleared its back stock. It also ended a series of machinery lease deals to reap funds from selling equipment.

The debt has now been paid off in full and a new finance agreement has been agreed with Bank Leumi.

Earlier this year, company made a third of its UK staff redundant, taking the total number of staff down to around 20.

Granite said: "Now that the restructuring is completed, we have started to develop more strategic plans to develop the business. 

"We will be announcing our plans to take the business to the next level shortly and this will likely include relaunching our parts business, developing a maintenance offer and establishing a leading e-retailing presence.

"We are not under the microscope any more, having repaid HSBC in full. The problem plant in France has gone, we have restructured the UK business, sold the US business and, overall, we are now a lean, profitable organisation."