Warwick Ward enters administration after losses follow employee ownership transition

Warwick Ward, a UK supplier of earth-moving and recycling equipment, entered administration on 3 December with the appointment of James Lumb and James Clark of Interpath as joint administrators, following a sharp deterioration in trading performance after a recent change in ownership.

The company, headquartered in Barnsley with additional depots in Bromsgrove and Harlow, had traded for more than five decades and built a national presence supplying new and used heavy machinery to the construction, waste, and recycling sectors.

Warwick Ward was founded in 1970 and had been owned and managed by Ashley and Matt Ward until June 2023, when the business was sold to an employee ownership trust. In the final year prior to the sale, the company reported a pre-tax profit of £679,000 on turnover of £51.2 million.

Financial performance weakened materially following the transition to employee ownership, with revenue declining 11% to £45.3 million and the company recording a pre-tax loss of £1.3 million in its first year under the new structure.

The administration has resulted in significant job losses, with the majority of the company’s 89 employees made redundant shortly after the appointment, according to reports issued at the time of the filing.

The administrators are expected to assess options for the business and its assets, including any prospects for an orderly wind-down or asset realisations across the group’s depot network.