Metzler enters administration with loss of nearly 20 jobs

Metzler International (UK) Ltd has gone into administration with the loss of nearly 20 jobs, after its parent company, Moulin Global Eyecare, went into provisional liquidation earlier this month.

One Metzler employee told Optician that the company was in administration and that Grant Thornton, appointed administrator as of July 13, were in the throes of ‘closing the company down’.

A spokesman for Grant Thornton confirmed that the situation at Metzler UK was a direct result of its parent company in Germany and China going into administration.

‘On the back of that we advertised for the business to be sold as a going concern but as a result of no interest being expressed for the acquisition of that business we had no option but to make the workforce redundant,’  he said.

In 2003 Metzler UK posted a loss of £260,597 which grew to £355,600 for the year ending December 2004.

At least six reps have been laid off according to one industry insider, who also informed Optician that staff had only been paid to the end of the month.

He added that for a long time the group lacked a brand licence of any real calibre. ‘There are no Premier league names. Apart from Benetton there was very little there,’ he said

The ongoing search for potential buyers of Moulin in Hong Kong has identified 15 potential buyers, some of whom are only interested in parts of the company.