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A 90-year-old haulage company in Blackburn has entered administration with the loss of 90 jobs.

Kroll Advisory in Manchester was appointed to handle the affairs of Kenyon Road Haulage and Kenyon Warehousing on 20 March and the businesses are now being wound down.

A spokesman for Kroll said: “Michael Lennon and Steven Muncaster of Kroll were appointed as administrators to Kenyon Road Haulage Limited and Kenyon Warehousing Limited on 20 March 2023.

“Due to the financial position of the entities both companies ceased to trade upon the appointment of administrators with 90 of the 97 road haulage and 18 of the 22 warehousing employees being made redundant.

“The remaining staff have been retained by the administrators to assist with their duties and wind down operations.”

Kenyon Road Haulage was established in 1933 and held an international licence authorising 82 HGVs running out of three depots in the North West and 12 out of an operating centre in Andover.

The family-run firm was taken over in 2016 by new management.

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Its last available set of accounts, for the year ending 31 July 2021, showed it had become loss making, with a previous year’s pre-tax profit of £98,000 converted into a pre-tax loss of £87,00 on an almost £14m turnover.

The haulier blamed the effects of the pandemic: “With customers temporarily closing due to Covid, the business focused its efforts on its internet-based customers who flourished during this time,” it said in a business review.

“Regrettably, this changed the dynamic of its delivery profile from mainly B2B to B2C.

“The result was a surge in small consignments to homes. This meant the delivery vehicles had to complete more deliveries to maintain turnover levels.

“It is not always possible for delivery vehicles to complete their scheduled deliveries due to the number of deliveries they have to make.”

The company added that it had seen driver wage costs increase by 40% and negotiations with customers to increase rates had taken time to finalise.

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