All staff have been made redundant after a manufacturing company ceased trading.
The UK company was placed into administration by its Scottish owner, with the loss of 53 jobs.
Glacier Energy Manufacturing Limited was impacted by a downturn in demand in the North Sea oil and gas sector.
The energy industry engineer and manufacturer was part of the wider Glacier Group, headquartered in Aberdeen.
The group continues to trade through its mechanical solutions and inspection services divisions, which focus on site machining and equipment services and non-destructive testing and inspection services, and the other divisions are “thriving”.
The business operated manufacturing sites south of the Border. The parent company said in an administration statement: “We have made the difficult decision to close our manufacturing facility in Stockton on Tees, with one of our entities, Glacier Energy Manufacturing Limited, being placed into administration.
“The Stockton facility was previously Francis Brown, which we acquired out of administration in August 2024 in a pre-pack deal.
“Despite significant efforts to turnaround the business, due to market challenges and the current fiscal regime, activity levels in the North Sea oil and gas market have been significantly impacted and new energy markets slow to materialise.”
The statement added that substantial losses in the division “have sadly become unsustainable” and continued: “As a group, we will continue to provide engineering, manufacture, repair and refurbishment of heat transfer equipment, specialist onsite machining services and inspection services for energy and industrial markets.”
Adele MacLeod and Clare Boardman, of Teneo Financial Advisory, were appointed as joint administrators in October and have now provided the first administrators’ report.
The administrators said: “Shortly following incorporation, the company experienced a softening of trading conditions and a significant decrease in the number of large-scale capital expenditure projects within traditional oil and gas markets, with customers focusing on repairs and maintenance to existing infrastructure rather than new investments.”
The company began to sustain financial losses from as early as December 2024, “as weak demand within its core North Sea oil and gas markets continued”.
Administrators added: “Despite the identification of new prospects, the company’s financial performance continued to decline and in July 2025, the directors made the decision to close the Rotherham site to reduce the company’s cost base, which resulted in 20 roles becoming redundant.”
They continued: “By September 2025, trading had softened further and a strategic review identified that the company required material funding to deliver a turnaround to a break-even position.
“In the absence of available funding, and with material uncertainty as to the deliverability of a turnaround, the directors resolved to place the company into administration in order to protect creditors’ interests.”
In the new report, the Teneo administrators said creditors’ payouts would be limited.
The administrators said: “We have received 57 claims to date totalling £349,200 which is significantly lower than anticipated when compared to the statement of affairs figures of 181 unsecured creditors with estimated non-preferential claims totalling £5.1 million.
“The lower number and value of claims may be attributed to a number of unsecured creditors opting to not submit claims in the administration, given that in the proposals we reported that it is unlikely that sufficient funds will be realised to enable a distribution to be made to unsecured creditors.
“On present information, it remains unlikely that sufficient funds will be realised to enable a distribution to be made to unsecured creditors.”
The firm owed a total of £133,000 when it was placed into administration.
Secured creditor IGF Business Credit Limited was owed £26,000.
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