Canute Group expected to reveal closure details on Friday

The Canute Group, owned by Almtone, is expected to make an official announcement about its closure tomorrow afternoon.

This is despite an apparently premature tweet from the company’s official Twitter account dated 19 December that reads:

“It is with great sadness that we have had to post that The Canute Group have now ceased trading.

“We would like to thank our customers, suppliers and staff, who have supported us over the last 40 years.”

However, a source at the company said that Canute Group was still trading ahead of expected cessation tomorrow (21 December), and an official announcement is expected at 4pm.

MT revealed that the embattled transport group would cease trading ahead of Christmas last week, with a wind-down of the business to take place over the days after.

A call to Canute’s head office reiterated the previously reported fact that the business will be closing, leaving some 600 staff out of work ahead of Christmas.

Yesterday, MT reported that Almtone, Canute’s owner, had been unable to demonstrate financial standing and had agreed to surrender its interim O-licences by the end of this month.

Since its pre-pack administration and sale in May, Almtone-owned Canute Group had racked up more than £157,000 of outstanding creditor debt. This included £47,000 owed to its former pallet network, Pallet-Track, which had sought to recover the money via a winding-up petition.

Pallet-Track MD Nigel Parkes tweeted yesterday that "there needs to be some serious questions asked about this pre-pack [in May] and O-licence application by the Insolvency Service.

"What a time for the staff to be told about this, it's terrible."

This is a breaking story and will be updated.