Founded in November 2011, Trade Signs Fabrications Limited was based at Unit 2, Icknield Way Industrial Estate, and shut up shop on July 18, 2016 after former director Matt Driver put it into administration with the loss of 40 jobs. The reasons for this are clouded in rumor and as-yet unsubstantiated allegations of mismanagement.
The firm's staff though have been rescued from the reported folly of Driver, with administrator CVR Global finding a buyer for the firm's assets in the form of Anthony Kleanthous, 49, the current chairman of Barnet FC and a
well-known business man. CVR Global said the assets of Trade Signs Fabrication were to sold to Signs and Screens Limited, who also took on around 40 members of staff. The insolvency practitioners appointed business partners David Oprey and Elias Paourou as administrators.
Kleanthous has a background in telecommunications but has interests in
sports development sites such as The Hive in Harrow. He moved Barnet FC
to The Hive in 2013 from their Underhill site in Barnet. The Hive is
also home to the London Bronchos Rugby League Team and the new female
football super league club The London Bees.
Paourou comments: “Trade Signs Fabrications had hit problems through a combination of factors including a degree of over-trading, and we were appointed as administrators in late July. We arranged a sale of the company’s assets to a third party, Signs and Screens Ltd, and the deal was completed on 21 July 2016.
“Signs and Screens Ltd offered to re-employ all of Trade Signs Fabrication’s staff following completion of the deal and the vast majority accepted and have joined the company.”
Signs and Screens Ltd offered to re-employ all of Trade Signs
Fabrication’s staff following completion of the deal and the vast
majority accepted and have joined the company”
Trade Signs Fabrications former director Driver, 43, has no connection to the new company. But Haylee Benton, 28, who had also been a director of Trade Signs Fabrications, is now the boss of Signs and Screens with a title of chief operations officer. She has been exonerated by the staff of Trade Signs Fabrications of having had anything to do with mismanagement of the firm that led to its failure, with the blame laid squarely at the feet of Driver.
According to Companies House, Driver remains as the director of two other firms based at the Icknield address, namely D’Signs Company (UK) Limited to which he was appointed in April 2000, and Innovision Branding Limited, to which he was appointed director in September of last year. Driver was also director of Trade Signs UK Limited, which was registered in 2004 and dissolved in 2012 and based in Tring. Signs and Screens are in the process of moving all the former assets of Trade Signs Fabrications to a new address, with its new trading address now The Hive, Camrose Avenue, London, HA8 6AG.
Signs and Screens has also been struggling with gaining proper access to some of the former assets of Trade Signs Fabrications such as its website, which for a week after the launch still listed sales@tradesignsuk.com as its contact details, had Trade Signs Fabrications listed as its company name on its contact page, and prior to August 8th still retained @tradesignsUK as its twitter address, and still has Trade Signs brochure as a download on its support page. This was reportedly because the firm was unable to gain access to the firm's former website data and rectify the errors. Since this time Sign and Screens has managed to gain access and now the misinformation has been corrected.
New company Signs and Screens battled to gain access to some assets of Trade Signs Fabrications, such as its website. After its launch the Contact Us page on the Signs and Screens websites still bore information about Trade Signs Fabrications
New Zealand born Benton resigned from D’Signs last year. In her Linked In site she states she previously worked in insurance before joining Trade Signs in 2008 as operations manager following a post graduate degree in Applied Management at the University of Warwick. She became a director of the firm in October 2014.
A statement from Kleanthous, owner of Signs and Screens, and chairman of Barnet FC sheds further light on the situation: "On 18 July 2016, Trade Signs Fabrications Limited went into Administration as it was no longer able to pay its due debts.
"I have extensive business interests including a number of companies which supply services to the Sports sector, as such I had been considering a proposal for distribution of LED screens in the UK and had known Trade Signs through the good work they had previously carried out for one of his sports clubs.
"The new LED screen product required fabrication expertise in the UK, so I was already in the process of discussing the matter with Trade Signs, when I was suddenly informed the company was being put into administration. I had to make an important decision to either continue with this opportunity elsewhere or to attempt to save as much as possible from the administration process. It was decided that I would explore a way to secure the assets and employ the staff, who were already involved with the business and had been made redundant by the administrators."
Kleanthous continues: "On 21 of July 2016, an agreement was reached with the administrators by which I would acquire certain assets, machinery and stock of Trade Signs. A decision was also made to take on all the ex-staff of Trade Signs, with the exception of its managing director, who had resigned.
"The management had to move at speed to minimise disruption to the business. It was essential to allay the natural concerns of our new staff, customers and suppliers and to come up with a proposal that would satisfy the administrators at the same time.
There was no time to set up a company from scratch as it would have taken too long to get a bank account set up (3 – 4 weeks). Whilst the asset purchase was still being discussed, a decision was made to use an existing company that the group owned and which had already a bank account to take on the assets and the employees and this was renamed and registered as the more appropriate Signs and Screens Limited, which reflected the new proposed business venture."
On July 29th, all staff were given the opportunity to apply for a loan
of one month’s basic salary show a firm commitment to the staff and to
give the management some time to sort out new contracts, and set up new
payroll”
Kleanthous concludes: "On July 29th, all staff were given the opportunity to apply for a loan of one month’s basic salary show a firm commitment to the staff and to give the management some time to sort out new contracts, and set up new payroll. Terms have been agreed with the landlords to licence the premises whilst a longer term solution is found and discussions have almost been concluded to purchase the new machinery needed to take the business forward. All new suppliers are paid on a daily and weekly basis and over half a million pounds has already been committed to this business with more to follow.
"With the continued commitment and support of our staff, customers and suppliers we have successfully stabilised our business and we now have a strong foundation to build on. Signs and Screens limited is part of a diversified and well capitalised and successful group of businesses with over £50million of assets and very little debt. The management of this group have an established culture of strong governance and financial discipline. We cannot comment on the management of Trade Signs other than to say we are proud to have such a talented and dedicated team join our workforce which is over three hundred strong. It will take a few weeks to assimilate all our systems but we are up and running and open for business. In the coming months, the management team is looking at further invest in the staff and assets of the business to help realise its full potential."
Trade Signs mystery
The demise of Trade Signs Fabrications and the reasons behind it have been further clouded by new evidence that has come to light. Driver’s LinkedIn profile states he has been with Trade Signs since 1992, and in the past has been quoted as saying that since that time he helped to build up a business since that time that prided itself as: ‘the UK's market leader for 3D built up letters and logos.’
However, Trade Signs UK is only list on Companies House as being incorporated in 2004, with its namesake successor Trade Signs Fabrications being incorporated in 2011. Driver has no record on Companies House of being a director of any company prior to 2000.
In an open letter posted on her Linked In site after the launch of Signs and Screens, Benton wrote: “Signs and
Screens Ltd have purchased the assets of Trade Signs Fabrications Ltd
from the administrator. The new owners have a strong, proven track
record in business and are looking forward to investing in the future of
this new company.
“They have already offered jobs to the old employees and are looking into new machinery to provide better quality and faster delivery to all its customers. Most importantly, the clients who bought from Trade Signs will be looked after in all aspects and let me assure you that your experience as a client will be extremely positive.
Matthew Driver was the director of Trade Signs Fabrications,fyyyyyyff
which has now gone into administration
“I am personally very pleased that I am now in a role where I can make
an impact, and be able to make improvements for our clients and our
staff. Our new owners who are part of a large group, have instilled the
faith in me to get Signs and Screens up and running, as well as taking
the company forward for the future.”
Benton went on to say that the company has a strong management team
featuring Daniel Oliver and Sean Isaacs, and asked for patience from
suppliers and customers during this time and the firm planned to be a
‘great’ trade supplier.
The news of Trade Signs Fabrications demise was met with some anger, with one anonymous Hertfordshire sign firm disputing the issue of whether Trade Signs had been solely a trade firm, while another sign company, also called Signs and Screens, sounded off on Twitter that Trade Signs should not have been given BSGA membership.
It is also fair to say sharp and angry comments have appeared on social media regarding the affair and how the former company was managed by Driver. And the industry’s trade body the British Signs and Graphics Association (BSGA) has had to fend off online criticism that as a member Trade Signs should have been more closely checked. However, Signlink understands that it is not in the remit of the BSGA to audit the accounts of its members for purely practical reasons of time and cost, but new members are vetted when they join.
Benton has resigned from the BSGA council as Trade Signs is no longer a member and BSGA is now a creditor of the defunct business.
"Our new owners who are part of a large group, have instilledtttyyyyyyt
the faith in me to get Signs and Screens up and running," says
Haylee Benton, former director of Trade Signs Fabrications
David Catanach of the BSGA comments: “The BSGA regrets that a sign business and trade supplier has gone out of business and put jobs in danger. We understand some of the staff has been taken on by the new company. It is a sad day when a company fails but we hope the new firm succeeds.”
In a conversation with Signlink’s editor Brendan Perring he says: “We were advised that Trade Signs had gone into administration on July 18, at which point their membership ceased. Any directors who were officials on any committees of the BSGA have stood down as a result. The BSGA are one of the creditors for their membership fee. We understand someone was stepped in to buy the equipment and good will of the company and have started up a company called Signs and Screens which means that some of the employees of Trade Signs are able to continue work.”
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