Troubled car dealer loses 44 staff

Beleaguered Dencourt Motors, previously ranked as one of the province’s top ten car dealerships, have announced that they are to lose half of their workforce.

The news arrives just after the revelation earlier this week that Dencourt Motors have gone into receivership after the company revealed debts close to £7 million.

The receivership is being overseen by Henry Saville KMPG who made the announcement, on Thursday 26 July, regarding the loss of 44 jobs.

The company operates a Vauxhall dealership on the Ravenhill road in Belfast and is headquartered in Mallusk, Newtownabbey. The job losses will be split between the two branches and will leave the remaining work force at 54.

A short statement from Dencourt’s holding company Ballyhannon said the redundancies were necessary in order to have the best chance of preserving the company’s core business activities.

Since its establishment in 1975 Dencourt Motors had grown alongside parent company Vauxhall and was ranked as the ninth biggest dealership in Northern Ireland.

A deal which secured the acquisition of the Pentlands dealership meant that the combined workforce doubled from 60 to 119. However, end-of-year figures for the company in 1999, which show a £0.1million pre-tax profit from a turnover of £29.5 million, were a clear indication of the company’s struggle for profitability. (AMcE)