Thames Valley: Administrators appointed to City Motor Holdings

Steve Absolom and Will Wright from KPMG Restructuring have been appointed joint administrators to City Motor Holdings and associated companies, which together operate a total of 13 new and approved used car dealerships across the Thames Valley region.

Headquartered in Basingstoke and with sites in Newbury and Reading, the companies operate dealerships for a number of vehicle manufacturers, including Ford, Peugeot, Citroen, Suzuki, Kia, Honda, Seat and Skoda, in addition to operating the PX Centre in Basingstoke, which specialises in the sale of used cars.

The dealerships affected by this administration include: Ford Newbury, Peugeot Newbury, City Kia Newbury, Ford Basingstoke, City Suzuki Basingstoke, City Seat/Skoda Basingstoke, City Honda Basingstoke, Ford Reading, Peugeot Reading and PX Centre Basingstoke.

Last week, following a prolonged period of poor trading, the company closed several of its dealerships.  Following the appointment of administrators, a total of 267 of the company’s employees were made redundant. The joint administrators have retained 19 members of staff to assist them in the winding down of operations.

Absolom commented: “While industry figures indicate that the number of new car registrations in the UK has remained consistently high over the past two years, the number of nearly-new and used cars also coming to market has put pressure on motor dealerships around the country. Against this backdrop and after a sustained period of poor trading, the directors of City Motors Holdings took the difficult decision to close its operations and call for the appointment of administrators. 

Wright added: “Over the coming days, our principal focus is on supporting employees with their redundancy claims and working with the vehicle manufacturers to effect an orderly closure of the business.

“We are aware that there are a number of customers who will be affected by this administration. While steps have already been taken to contact many of them, any customers who have immediate concerns should contact the following dedicated email address: citymotors@kpmg.co.uk.