The Antrim-based company, which has a large specialised woodworking factory and offices globally, is a major user of hardwoods and sheet materials. It went into administration on January 10.
“While we hope to achieve a potential sale of the business, we are reviewing trading on a daily basis and this includes the employment situation,” said administrator Peter Allan, of Deloitte.
“Where customers can no longer continue with contracts, the jobs associated with these contracts have, unfortunately, been lost.”
One UK hardwood importer that supplies Mivan told TTJ that he expected the Antrim business to be saved under different ownership and supply contracts to be renegotiated.
The contact said the Mivan joinery operation was very large, highly skilled and valuable to overseas clients in regions including the Middle East.
Mivan has endured an uncertain past couple of years – it incurred losses from a property development project in Romania and was forced to restructure in 2012.
Recently it was exploring a merger with fellow Northern Ireland construction firm Lagan Group Holdings as it sought to increase its international capacity and competitiveness against a background of tight margins and pressures on liquidity. But talks failed around the turn of the new year.
Mivan, which holds a Queen’s award for exports and has twice been named as UK Construction Firm of the Year, has worked on a string of high-profile fit-out projects including the Scottish Parliament building, the QE2, EuroDisney and Walt Disney World’s theme parks in Orlando, Florida.
