Molson files for administration after £10.3m pre-tax loss

Molson, the UK's largest independent new and used equipment dealer, has filed notices of intention to appoint administrators after posting a £10.3m pre-tax loss. Founder and chief executive Robin Powell is understood to have told staff this morning.

The scale is hard to overstate. The Bristol-based business runs 16 UK locations, employs more than 95 service engineers, and supplies machinery from Kobelco, Hyundai Construction Equipment, Terex, Sennebogen, Bell Equipment, Thwaites, Merlo and Husqvarna demolition robots. Its customers span contractors, plant hirers, demolition firms and recycling operators.

Both Molson Group and Molson Equipment Services have filed notices with the High Court.

What do the accounts show?

The latest published accounts, for the year to September 2024, show turnover of £333m against that £10.3m pre-tax loss. The group employed an average of 470 staff that year, though sources say headcount is now closer to 600. Revenue of a third of a billion pounds, in other words, wasn't enough to keep the wheels on.

Is this Molson's first collapse?

No. Nearly 19 years ago, in November 2007, Molson Holdings entered administration. The comeback started almost immediately. Molson Group was incorporated in September 2007, with co-founders Jonathan Wilson and Robin Powell as directors, and the separate equipment business adopted the name Molson-Hyundai Construction Equipment that December. It later became Molson Equipment Services.

The Hyundai franchise became the spine of the rebuilding story. Molson switched from New Holland to become the Hyundai dealer for southern England and Wales in 2007, and by 2010 had grown into the manufacturer's biggest European dealer. Its territory later expanded into the Midlands.

Where did the money come from?

Growth accelerated with £6.3m of backing from investor BGF in 2018, followed by a further £11m in 2019. The cash funded acquisitions, depot investment and expansion into waste and recycling equipment. Turnover had passed £200m by 2019.

The group also built a US dealership network, including Powerscreen businesses in California, Texas and Washington. From one administration to a transatlantic dealer network in under two decades — and now, apparently, back again.

What happens next rests with the administrators, once appointed, and with the machinery manufacturers who will be weighing up their UK franchise options.