Cleaning Service in Administration Rescued

Hotel Solutions has been bought out of administration in a deal that will ensure the safety of 1,100 jobs at the catering and cleaning business, but its sister company is forced to close with all 156 staff made redundant.

The sale, arranged by the company’s administrator, FRP Advisory, will see Housekeeping Solutions take ownership of the business for an undisclosed price, less than seven days after going into administration.

When initially appointed administrator, FRP Advisory had announced the intention to sell the company as a going concern and the firm’s partner and joint administrator Jason Baker said: ‘Due to the pressure of the month end payroll we had a very limited time to achieve a sale. In our view this is an exceptional result for the business, its customers and its employees because the alternative would have been a shutdown and closure, almost certainly this week.’

Pearl Palihawandara, former managing director of Hotel Solutions London and now managing director for Housekeeping Solutions said: ‘We are delighted to have secured a future for the business. We are now making arrangements to pay the wages.’

Hotel Solutions had outstanding debts of around £2m to HMRC, among other creditors when, along with Totally Clean Solution, it went into administration. A statement issued by FRP Advisory, said: ‘With no funds and very limited assets, we were no longer in a position to continue to trade Totally Clean Solution. Unfortunately, no buyer of the company was found and, regrettably, we were forced to begin the shutdown process, with all 156 employees made redundant with immediate effect.’