KPMG sells-off Fergusson Coal assets as 80 year-old Stirling business goes under

Blair Nimmo, Tony Friar and Neil Gostelow of KPMG has been appointed joint administrators at Stirling-based Fergusson Coal, one of Scotland’s biggest coal companies.

The firm, founded in 1926 by Thomas Henry Fergusson, has collapsed with the loss of 22 jobs after business was hit by the closure of Longannet Power Station.

The KPMG trio have already sold the assets and business of its distribution and wholesale arms to Sheffield-based CPL Industries.

Fergusson is just one of many victims of the long term structural decline of the coal power generation market.

The squeeze saw the company, owned by brothers Tom and Alan Fergusson, report a £5.9 million loss in February.

The deal with CPL Industries has safeguarded 67 jobs across Fergusson’s eight depots in Scotland, as well as three staff at a site in Larne and nine in Carlisle, KPMG said.

The 22 job losses include 13 at Fergusson’s main site in Hunterston, Ayrshire, and nine at its head office in Stirling.

Tom and Alan Fergusson will remain with the business and manage the rump of the Fergusson operations.

It is understood the Fergusson name will be retained and the Fergusson brothers will not have a stake in CPL.

Tony Minett, chief executive at CPL, said: “Fergusson has a proud 90-year history and we look forward to developing the business in the future.”