Simclar has €35 million in debts in the UK

Simclar Ayrshire axed their Irvine and Kilwinning plants in January and administrators transferred some work to Dunfermline, Fife. Labour MSP hit out after the administrator's report showed the firm had debts of more than €35 million (£24 million). According to the Labour MSP the report also said preferential creditors owed £84,784 will be paid but others will get nothing. "Given the sale and transfer of assets in the weeks before closure, it is not surprising there are insufficient funds to pay the creditors. If this is legal, then the law must be changed. It is difficult to comprehend how a company who only two years ago were recording millions of pounds of profits can now be €125 million in the red. It's harder still to understand how Simclar International, to all intents the same company with the same managing director, can continue to trade across the globe, including the multi-million-pound operation at their Scottish base in Dunfermline," the Labour MSP said. Aspokesman for Sinclar said the group had lost several key contracts and had made significant efforts to keep the Ayrshire operation viable.