Norton Motorcycles has called in administrators

THREE WEEKS AGO COMPANY WAS IN COURT OVER UNPAID TAXES

LEICESTERSHIRE-BASED Norton Motorcycles has gone into administration.

Accountancy firm BDO said it had been appointed to manage the affairs of the bike manufacturer, based at Donington Hall, Castle Donington.

Administrators have also been called into the Priest House Hotel, also in Castle Donington, which is linked to the motorcycle business.

Staff at the hotel were understood to have been told about the decision yesterday. A business called Legacy Hotels and Resorts has been brought in to run the hotel until a buyer is found.

Lee Causer, BDO business restructuring partner, told the Mercury: “As joint administrators, we are taking all necessary steps to ensure customers, staff and suppliers are supported through the administration process. Our job is to determine and execute the most appropriate strategy as swiftly as possible to protect creditors’ interests, bearing in mind the need to minimise distress for all parties. We are assessing the position of each of the companies in order to conclude upon the options available to them and the most appropriate way forward.”

The Mercury has asked Stuart Garner, pictured, owner of Norton and Priest House, for a comment.

Mr Garner rescued the historic bike brand in 2008, moving it to Leicestershire from its traditional home in the West Midlands.

It employs around 100 people making bikes such as the Commando 961 Cafe Racer, Dominator and V4RR, which are now sold around the world.

Earlier this month, Mr Garner said he had been working with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to avoid a winding up petition over hundreds of thousands of pounds of unpaid taxes.

He said his company owed HMRC £300,000 – mainly covered, he said, by outstanding research and development (R&D) tax relief which was owed to the business.

Representatives of Norton Motorcycles (UK) Ltd were at the High

Court’s Insolvency and Companies Court in London three weeks ago facing the winding up order over the outstanding debts.

The court heard how HMRC was originally owed around £600,000, half of which had been paid.

HMRC’s barrister told insolvency judge Judge Sebastian Prentis that because the debt had been reduced and the company was making payments, they were seeking an adjournment.

He asked for 63 days for the outstanding amount to be settled.

Norton’s financial director told the judge the company had £135,000 in research and development tax credits due, which were with HMRC for approval.

Speaking after the hearing, Mr Garner told the Mercury: “They have extended the time we have to pay and agreed the payment we have put to them. This was the formality of what we have agreed over the past few months and wraps around research and development tax credits which have been delayed.

“We have paid an element of the cash and the figure left is, in essence, the R&D balance. It has been frustrating the tax credits have taken so long to come through. We have spent about £13 million in R&D in the last three/four years, so it is frustrating this has taken so long.”

Last year, Mr Garner launched a £1 million crowdfunding campaign to finance a £30 million order book and spend on further R&D.

He later pulled the appeal, saying a big investor had come forward.

The company was founded in Birmingham in 1898 by James Lansdowne Norton, starting out as a manufacturer of “fittings and parts for the two-wheel trade”.

By 1902, Norton had started manufacturing motorcycles.