Dealer Collapse Sends Shockwaves Across the Industry

Sad news on the demise of Molson Group and its Molson Equipment Services broke on Friday as the business, one of the UK’s largest independent machinery distributors filed for administration, following recent financial losses and rising operational costs.

Rumours had been rife about this situation looming for some time, but we largely put that down to the usual industry gossip, but sadly it has now become fact.

Our immediate thoughts go out to the Bristol based company’s staff members which was estimated to total around 600 individuals who were operating from a network of 16 depots across the UK and included 95 mobile service engineers out on the road.

There has been an outpouring of industry support on LinkedIn, with other companies potentially offering positions to some of those affected. What makes its all even worse is we are now just over 6 weeks away from Christmas so its going to be a worrying time for those affected.

Molson Groups were distributors for a wide range of OEM brands including Kobelco excavators, Hyundai Construction Equipment, Sennebogen material handlers, Bell articulated haulers and Thwaites dumpers to name a few, what will happen with those brands dealership arrangements in the UK remains to be decided over the coming days and weeks.

There was a time when I was visiting a lot of Molson customers who were running Hyundai equipment, most visits of which were organised by our good friend Louise (Murphy) Carney, who at the time was doing a fantastic job with the PR work for Hyundai CEE, but in recent years I did virtually nothing with them. I think my last engagement with them would have been in 2023 when they hosted a massive Open Day event at the Molson HQ in Avonmouth.

I also recall a time when I paid a visit to their old premises in Yatton to look at a grey import Sumitomo SH120 hydraulic excavator which I was looking at buying back in the late 1990’s.

This news reaffirms that things are pretty tough in the industry at the moment and various global events are not helping situation, it's potentially going to be a long tough winter. However, it’s not all gloom and doom as many other businesses we talk too are busy and still shifting plenty of kit.

Ultimately, we keep our fingers crossed for all the Molson staff affected, and as previously mentioned, we recommend reaching out on LinkedIn for any offers of work, I wish you all the very best!