Almost 150 employees are set to lose their jobs at a Co Antrim engineering firm after Williams Industrial Services (WIS) in Mallusk announced it has gone into administration. Mallusk-based WIS was established in 1983 and is one of Ireland's largest providers of environmental engineering solutions, specialising in water-treatment and anaerobic digestion technologies. About half of the company’s sales of water-treatment and anaerobic digestion solutions are to customers outside the North, primarily in the republic and in Britain. The company explained that it ran into a number of commercial difficulties and subsequently ran out of funds. The redundancies are to take effect immediately. WIS chairman John Toner, said: “Having explored all possible rescue options, it is with deep regret that the directors have had to take steps to have the company placed into administration.” The firm employs 145 people directly and has an annual turnover of about £50 million. In addition, Tot Technical NI Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of WIS, employs 15 people and is set to go into liquidation.

'Contractual disputes'


PwC’s Stephen Cave said: “The company ran into a number of commercial issues on some of its key contracts in recent months, culminating in contractual disputes which had a significant and adverse impact on trading cashflow. “Despite endeavours to resolve the matters and secure a way forward, the company ran out of funds, leaving the directors facing the decision to enter administration. “While we are urgently reviewing the company’s financial and trading position, we have unfortunately had to make the majority of the workforce redundant with immediate effect." Separately, more than 200 job losses have been confirmed at another manufacturing firm in Northern Ireland, union leaders have said. Schlumberger, which constructs equipment used in the oil and gas industry, previously announced proposals to close its plant in Newtownabbey this year due to a prolonged downturn in the sector.