Portsmouth: Ramora sold out of administration

A Portsmouth explosives disposal firm, hit by work in Libya failing to materialise following the uprising there, has been sold out of administration.

The assets of Ramora UK, which was in the hands of joint administrators Julie Palmer and Simon Campbell of corporate recovery specialists Begbies Traynor, have been bought by newly established Ramora Global.

The deal followed a capital injection by a private investor.

David Welch, managing director of Ramora UK, has been retained to head Ramora Global which employs 25 people.

“There is unlikely to be any return for ordinary creditors,” said Palmer. “Part of the problem was that contracts they were expecting from the Middle East did not happen. In particular, work in Libya failed to come through as a result of the current situation there.”

She said Ramora UK had also over-extended itself. It had moved into prestige offices at Voyager Park which had turned out to be too big for its immediate needs.

Clients included governments, corporations, military, and law enforcement agencies across the world.

Its operations included a 24-hour bomb disposal service and high-risk counter terrorist search and disposal techniques. It offered terrorist bomb threat awareness training, port security and anti-piracy measures.

It worked across the transportation, aggregates and construction, corporate, maritime, military, oil and gas sectors.

The firm took on a wide variety of jobs.
It was chosen to clear a lake in the Thames Valley of silt, removing 100 items of ordnance in the process – the site had been used by various military and home guard units in the past. It made disposal arrangements following the discovery of ordnance within a wind farm complex. And it was contacted to provide specialist security training for personnel operating at one of the international war crime tribunals.

Palmer said: “This was a somewhat unusual administration – we don’t often find ourselves handling explosives companies.

“However, by acting fast we managed to preserve the basis of the business for the new entity to take forward.

“Hopefully, Ramora Global will prove a major asset to Portsmouth and a continuing significant employer.”