New panel products importer Guardeager Ltd has taken on 20 staff from the former FG Hawkes (Western) Ltd operation.
Set up by Chris Jones and Wayne Jackson, former sales managers at FG Hawkes (which traded as RKL Plywood), Guardeager has also acquired a large volume of stock, thought to be worth about £3m, which had been on a vessel bound for RKL when the latter went into administration in October under a £15m debt burden.
“It is not an ideal time for us to start up, there is a downturn at this time of year, but we are looking to build up the business slowly but surely,” Mr Jones told TTJ.
The company is trading from and imports to Swansea and Belfast. So far Chinese plywood and European MDF has been imported, with the first containers having arrived at Belfast. The plan is to add other panel products to the portfolio.
“I have a great relationship with customers who have supported me,” said Mr Jones.
He said he wanted to make clear to the trade that Guardeager had been set up by himself and Mr Jackson, with no involvement from the former owners of FG Hawkes.
“It is our business,” he said. “We have structured a deal with suppliers in China that will allow us to get off the ground,” said Mr Jones.
He said he has had to contend with rumours in the plywood trade that the former RKL ownership was financing the new company, something he described as a “myth”.
“Wayne and I want to make a go of it. There was an opportunity to take stock on a vessel that had been destined for RKL and we secured jobs for 20 people who had been made redundant only weeks before.”
