An engineering business involved in plans for a lightweight supercar has ceased trading, making all of its 45 employees redundant.
Mulholland Composites, which made carbon composite components for Formula One teams and the aerospace and defence sectors, was based in a modern factory in Belmore Way, off Raynesway, Derby.
The closure leaves a question mark over the development and production of the Legend 480, a supercar designed and set to be built by the Mulholland Group.
Named after the amount of horsepower the V8-powered coupe can produce, the group had drawn on its 20 years of supplying components to F1 teams and supercar manufacturers to design and develop the two-seater.
Mulholland Composites was set up by Graham Mulholland, who blamed the company’s demise on Derby City Council, following a dispute over the lease of the factory.
Richard Saville, senior partner with insolvency practitioners Corporate Financial Solutions, who is handling the administration, confirmed that there had been a dispute between the city council and Mulholland Composites prior to his firm being brought in, but he was unable to comment on it.
Mr Saville said: “We were appointed on March 24 but by then the company had ceased trading which is an unusual position for us to find ourselves in.
“We had a factory full of machinery but no staff, who had all been made redundant. We met with interested parties but actually had no company to trade.
“We did sell the work in progress to another company but there was no opportunity for us to sell the business.
“So we are tying up the loose ends now and sorting out employee claims mainly.”
A city council spokesman said: “The council is the freehold owner of the building.
“The previous tenants of the building went into administration in November 2019 and since then the building has been under the control of the administrator.
“In February 2021, the administrator surrendered its lease of the building to the council and the council has since been working to ensure the building is lawfully occupied.
“Since March 2020, the authority has provided over £60 million of direct grant funding and £45 million of business rates relief to businesses of all shapes, sizes and sectors, protecting tens of thousands of jobs.”
