TWO steel companies, the sole suppliers to Butler Engineering Ltd Portarlington, were granted a High Court order yesterday. It restrains the company from using or disposing of their product before Monday when an examinership petition is to be considered.
Rathville Company Ltd, Dublin and GCS (Steels) Ltd, a British company, were granted the interim injunction by Mr Justice Keane. It stated Butler Engineering should not use or dispose of steel in its possession under retention of title agreements made. The order stands until Monday.
A petition to appoint an examiner to Butler Engineering Ltd; Butler Engineering International Ltd Lea Road, Portarlington, and Data Inputs Ltd, Northumberland Road Dublin, will be considered in the High Court on Monday.
Mr Lyndon McCann, counsel for the two steel companies, said the receiver, Mr Ray Jackson, had been forced to cease to act by an order of the High Court on Thursday.
Mr McCann said his clients had attended the Butler Engineering premises and had indicated that Butler was going to use the steel in manufacturing.
If that happened, the steel would lose its identity and his clients would lose the right to title. He read an affidavit by Mr Maurice O'Connor, managing director of Rathville and the authorised agent of GCS.
Mr O'Connor said that about £658,817 was due by Butler to Rathville. The company was also indebted to GCS for about £75,212 sterling.
He attended the premises in Portarlington last weekend and examined a large quantity of steel in the yard. He was satisfied that a substantial quantity of the steel supplied by Rathville remained on site.
Agreement was reached between himself and the receiver, who was appointed on February 16th and Mr Jackson was agreeable to returning the steel.
With the removal of the receiver, he was apprehensive that the company proposed to recommence business even before the examinership hearing. He believed that between then and the hearing, steel worth £150,000, which had been supplied by them, would be used by the company in its manufacturing process.
He wrote to the company but had received no response and this confirmed his fears that the company proposed to ignore the retention of title and go ahead with the use of the steel.
