Forty redundancies at Bathgate phone firm

A company that refurbishes mobile phones has gone into administration with the loss of 44 jobs.

Redeem UK entered administration last week, making 44 workers at its Bathgate site redundant.

The affected workers had been furloughed since March along with the firm’s other 86 UK staff.

The Macclesfield- based company revamped and resold mobile phones to mobile network operators including Vodafone and Telefonica and directly to customers through its website Envirofone.

KPMG said Chris Pole and Rick Harrison from its restructuring practice had been appointed joint administrators to Redeem UK Limited and Redeem Holdings Limited.

It is attempting to find a buyer for the firm’s business in Spain. The firm also has operations in Dubai, Estonia and Sweden.

Redeem Group employed 130 staff in the UK, including 44 in Bathgate. 118 were made redundant while the remaining staff are being retained to assist with the wind-down of the business.

Chris Pole said: “Like many businesses Redeem Group has been severely impacted by Covid-19 and the business has been in hibernation since

March. The directors had been working with customers and stakeholders to secure new funding into the business to support a reopening but this has not been possible and has led the directors to take the difficult decision of placing the company into administration.

“All affected staff have been informed and we will provide the assistance they need to make the relevant claims.

“We’d like to thank all employees for the support, service and co- operation they have provided to the company, both before and during the administration.

“Our focus over the coming days is to realise the remaining assets and find a purchaser for the group’s Spanish business.”