Archive for category: Updates

Did Moveero’s Adviser Check the Facts?

Moveero’s Denmark group posted a 2025 loss due to Moveero UK group’s financial woe despite Interpath’s claim it would not impact Danish operations.   

Amidst efforts to sell off-highway wheel company Moveero, Aurelius’s adviser Interpath stated on March 26, 2026 that “the UK insolvencies do not affect or impact the rest of the Group’s operations and businesses in the US and Denmark.”

Moveero’s Denmark filings contradict this statement; Moveero’s Denmark branch anticipated turning a profit in 2025, but instead generated a loss, and its filings state: “The deviation from expectations is primarily attributable to an impairment loss related to receivables from [Moveero UK branch entities].”

Although Interpath’s March 26, 2026 statement does not mention Moveero’s Italian operations, Moveero’s UK administrative filings in May 2026 require that Moveero’s technology center in Brescia, Italy be sold because it is owned by an insolvent entity connected to Moveero’s UK administration.  Whether Interpath knew this when it issued its statement is unclear.

Potential Moveero buyers and industry stakeholders should scrutinize claims made by Aurelius, Interpath or Moveero prior to moving forward with any transaction

On March 26, 2026, Moveero’s UK branch went into administration. The UK branch appointed Interpath to oversee the administration.  Interpath is no stranger to Aurelius; Aurelius had previously hired Interpath to run a sales process for the wider Moveero group including its UK branch and operations in the United States, Italy and Denmark. Interpath also advised Aurelius during its 2025 acquisition of info tech business Exertis and during its 2022 acquisition of LloydsPharmacy.

Interpath stated on March 26, 2026 after Moveero’s U.K. branch (made up of Moveero LTD., Autostructures UK LTD. and Sankey Holding LTD) went into administration:

“For the avoidance of doubt, the wider Moveero group continues to operate profitably, and the UK insolvencies do not affect or impact the rest of the Group’s operations and businesses in the US and Denmark.”

Interpath’s claim was reported in the BBC, the Telegraph, the Mirror UK and other publications.

Financial filings made by Moveero’s Denmark subsidiary Moveero A/S tell a different story. Moveero A/S reported an after-tax loss of DKK 12,752,610 in 2025. Its 2025 Annual Report stated:

The expected profit after tax for the year was in the range of DKK 25–30 million. The realized loss for the year is below expectations and is considered unsatisfactory. The deviation from expectations is primarily attributable to an impairment loss related to receivables from Sankey Holding Ltd. and moveero Ltd., [Moveero A/S]’s related foreign group entities. The impairment test performed in 2025 resulted in a write-down of DKK 18.4 million.   (emphasis added).

Administration filings for Moveero Ltd reveal other relationships between the UK branch and operations in Denmark, Italy and the U.S.

  • Sankey Holding LTD owns Moveero S.r.l, Moveero’s technology facility in Italy, which is also operated on land owned by Sankey Holding.
  • Moveero LTD also assists Movvero INC., Moveero S.r.l., and Moveero A/S with communications, as its communications team was responsible for the global website content.

Moveero’s Denmark filings reveal longstanding relationship with Moveero UK branch that “affected and impacted” Denmark operations

Moveero A/S has a manufacturing facility in Nagbol, Denmark, where the firm manufactures steel wheels, and chassis made of advanced technology heavy-duty steel for off-road purposes.

Moveero A/S’s financial highlights illustrate that:

  • Between 2022 and 2025, revenue decreased from DKK 828,691,000 to 497,401,000.
  • Between 2023 and 2025, average employees decreased from 358 to 252.
  • Between 2023 and 2025, profit decreased from a profit of DKK 70,097,000 to a loss of DKK 12,753,000.
  • Investments in property, plant, and equipment decreased by nearly DKK 8 million between 2024 and 2025.

Figure 1 – Selected Financial highlights for Moveero A/S from 2022-2025, in DKK and USD (rounded to nearest thousand)

In 2022, Moveero A/S made a loan of DKK 155 million to unspecified foreign affiliated companies, later revealed to be Moveero LTD and Sankey Holding.

Moveero A/S’s 2022 annual report stated:

“We have not been able to obtain audit evidence regarding the valuation of receivables within group enterprises with a carrying amount of DKK 155 million. Consequently, we are not able to express an opinion on these loans and determine whether any write-down due to impairment is relevant.”

Moveero A/S’s 2023 annual report states that Deloitte conducted an impairment test, which caused a total write-down of DKK 113.3 million. The recognized amount—or amount on the books in a given year of an impairment loss—was 28.9 million after repayments in 2023. In 2024, the recognized amount was DKK 21.7 million after further repayments.

Moveero A/S’s 2024 annual report states that:

“It is uncertain if the recognized amount of DKK 21.7 million will be settled in full or if the group companies will be able to settle a larger amount over a longer span of time. However, repayments of more than the DKK 21.7 million are not expected to be possible in the short term. At the same time, no guarantee has been received regarding the balances in question. As a result, there is an uncertainty associated with the valuation of the receivables and any future adjustments of the write-down may be significant.”

By 2025, Moveero A/S generated a loss of DKK 12.8 million, whereas in previous years the company booked a profit.  Loans to Moveero UK entities were written down by an additional DKK 18.4 million—a total write-down of 131.7 million of the initial loan—and in its annual report, Moveero A/S notes that Moveero’s UK branch was going through administration.

During administration, Moveero’s UK group was required to pay secured creditors – including Moveero A/S.  Interpath reported that Moveero A/S will only be repaid after Wells Fargo and Aurelius and stated that “[b]ased on current estimates, it is unknown whether there will be sufficient funds to enable a distribution to [Moveero A/S].

In sum, despite Interpath’s claim in May 2026 that “the UK insolvencies do not affect or impact the rest of the Group’s operations and businesses in the US and Denmark,” Moveero A/S’s 2025 report attributes its failure to meet expected profits primarily to an impairment loss related to receivables from Moveero’s UK branch, receivables that Moveero A/S had been flagging since 2022.

Sankey Holding Limited UK Administration Filings Reveal Moveero’s Italian Technology Center is For Sale

Moveero Ltd’s administration filings also reveal a relationship between Moveero’s UK group and operations in Italy.

Moveero S.r.l in Brescia, Italy is one of two designated testing centers for the company, with the other in Estherville, Iowa.

Sankey Holding – the holding company for Moveero’s UK branch – owns 100% of Moveero S.r.l shares. It also holds the lease for the center.

After entering administration in May 2026, Sankey Holding stated in reference to its investment in Moveero S.r.l that it planned to “pursue realisations from this investment through the sale of the business.” Interpath stated that it was “unable to provide estimates for the potential realisations from the shares in Moveero S.r.l and the lease due to the commercial sensitivity.”

Interpath stated in May 2026 that the most likely exit route from administration for Sankey Holding was dissolution. Interpath’s attempt to sell the UK Group subsequently failed, and it auctioned off Telford’s machinery in July 2026.   This suggests that Interpath is selling the UK Group’s assets on a piecemeal basis, and that it could do the same for Sankey’s investment in Moveero S.r.l.

Potential buyers must conduct appropriate due diligence, and ask:

  • Why did Interpath state that, “For the avoidance of doubt, the wider Moveero group continues to operate profitably, and the UK insolvencies do not affect or impact the rest of the Group’s operations and businesses in the US and Denmark” despite evidence to the contrary in Moveero’s Denmark filings?
  • Will Interpath correct the record, and notify reporters who repeated its claims in press coverage of the Moveero U.K. administration process?
  • Has the Moveero S.r.l Italian technology center been sold?
  • Was the Moveero UK group’s administration the cause for Moveero A/S’s decreased investments in property, plant and equipment and decreased number of employees?
  • Did Moveero A/S receive any repayment from the UK Group’s administration and subsequent liquidation?
  • Will the UK Group’s administration have a lasting impact on Moveero A/S’s profitability, and if so, what will that impact be?

APPENDIX A: Methodology for DKK > USD conversions.

 

How Aurelius’s rosy outlook turned into administration: four case studies illustrate the case for caution and due diligence before partnering with Aurelius

Firms considering acquiring Moveero or partnering with Aurelius should consider Aurelius’s track record. Since 2020, six Aurelius portfolio companies—Moveero, ceiling manufacturer Zentia, technology distribution and specialist service provider Exertis, cosmetic retailer The Body Shop, construction company Building Partners Group, and book wholesaler Bertrams —have gone through the administration process, disrupting communities and displacing workers.

From A (Armstrong) to Z (Zentia) and then back to A (Administration)

Aurelius acquired Armstrong Ceiling Solutions, a manufacturer of mineral ceiling tiles, suspension grids and floating ceiling systems, in March 2020. At the time, the firm had over 260 employees at two production facilities in the North East of England and three distribution centers located in the UK, Germany and Spain.

The firm was rebranded to Zentia later in 2020, reporting “We were Armstrong; now we are Zentia. We’ve gone from A to Z, introduced a bright and dynamic colour palette and centred our business around our new brand AXIS – four key elements which underpin our new direction.”

Zentia entered administration on June 8, 2026. In accounts for the year to December 31 2024, Zentia reported turnover (UK term for the total income a company generates from selling goods or services during a specific period, before deducting operating expenses or costs) of approximately £48.1 million, down from £54.7 million a year earlier, while falling from an operating profit of around £3.4 million to a loss of £2.4 million. Like at Moveero, Interpath was appointed to conduct the administration. Zentia laid off 170 workers when the 169-year-old firm collapsed.

Exertis: Acquisition to Administration in Seven Months

In November 2025, Aurelius acquired Exertis, a hardware distribution business with £2bn in annual revenues. Aurelius Managing Director Andrzej Cebrat said at the time that Exertis offered “significant operational improvement potential.”

However, only one month after the purchase, five Exertis executives had jumped ship, the firm entered a formal 54-day consultation period and media outlets reported that the Exertis UK workforce could be reduced from about 1,300 employees to approximately 130.

Administrator Turpin Barker Armstrong was appointed to oversee Exertis on May 29, 2026, and IT Channel Oxygen reported only about 70 staff remained on payroll.

Exertis, in its administration filings, stated that the change in ownership affected its relationship with credit insurers, which in turn, affected supplier confidence, product availability, and working capital requirements.

The Body Shop: Over a thousand layoffs, hundreds of closed stores and a mass sacking over Microsoft Teams

Aurelius purchased beauty supplier The Body Shop in November 2023 for £207 million.  Only two months later, the Body Shop’s UK and German branches both entered the administration process.

In March 2024, The Body Shop fired 270 head office staff over Microsoft Teams, telling them that they would not be paid beyond the end of the day and would not receive a redundancy (severance) package. According to reporting in the Independent, the company admitted it did not follow “normal regulations” on properly consulting employees or their representatives before dismissing them, saying there was “insufficient time” to do so.

In total, the Body Shop closed hundreds of stores across the United States, Canada, the U.K., Denmark and Germany and laid off over a thousand workers.

Industry observers and lawmakers criticized Aurelius surrounding the Body Shop’s collapse. Dame Siobhain McDonagh, a Labour MP on the Commons’ Treasury select committee, said: “Just before Christmas, Aurelius released a statement saying they would ‘re-energise the business’ and ‘deliver the next chapter of success.’ Less than three months later they are putting the brand into liquidation and look like they are first in line to be paid. You have to question their sincerity. Did they ever intend to grow the business?”

The Telegraph reported that the Body Shop collapsed after HSBC withdrew a line of credit and Aurelius failed to secure new funding. Aurelius claimed it was never made aware of HSBC’s decision to end its relationship with the retailer.

Aurelius drives Bertrams, the second-largest book wholesaler in the UK, into the ground

After initially offering £10.6m for Connect Books, Aurelius acquired the UK-based wholesaler for only £6m in February 2018. Elsie Bertram and her son Kip founded the firm in 1968 in a chicken shed in the garden of a Norwich home before “blossoming into the second-largest wholesaler of books in the UK.”

At the time, Aurelius’s Dirk Markus said, “We look forward to working with the company to provide the financial and operational support that will allow the business to reach its full potential.”

On June 19, 2020, Bertrams Books (renamed after the Aurelius acquisition) entered administration.

Administrators Turpin Barker Armstrong cited falling demand and in-person shop closures from COVID-19, and said the majority of Bertrams’ employees had been let go, with a small number retained to manage the winding down of operations.

According to the Daily Mail, Kip Bertram “disputed the claims of the administrators over the reasons for the collapse and the loss of nearly 450 jobs, saying: ‘It’s nothing to do with e-Books or Covid-19 – people still like to hold and smell books.’”

The Bookseller reported complaints from Bertrams’ customers in a June 19, 2020 article entitled “We are Bertrams’ ‘collateral damage’, say indie publishers.”

  • An email sent by Central Books indicated that payments from Bertrams had been late “for over a year” and emails addressing discrepancies were going unanswered. “Nobody got in touch from Bertrams,” publisher Gracie Cooper said. “We’ve had no information. This is a major hit for any publisher.”
  • Sam Jordison of Central Books said: “Bertrams was obviously having trouble last year, but things started to get better. The reason we’ve been hit is because they haven’t paid their December dues. It’s pretty outrageous. We’ve heard nothing from them and it really feels like they’ve strung us along quite a bit.”
  • Diane Slaney of Candlestick Press said: “I imagine that this is an extra strain and worry being shared by many independent publishers right now. It would be good to know what was going on in the minds of management and shareholders at the end of last year when Bertrams was already in difficulty, long before any hint of a global pandemic. We have unpaid invoices going back to November 2019. Could this sorry situation have been avoided with more transparency and collaborative help across the industry?”

Based on a review of Aurelius’ history, short seller Gotham City Research reported in 2017 that 60% of portfolio companies entered insolvency after Aurelius sold them. Aurelius responded by calling the Gotham City Research’s conclusions “substantially incorrect”, announcing a stock share buy-back plan, and promising a “strong exit pipeline and interest in its subsidiaries.”

How private equity firm Aurelius shuttered the doors of a historic U.K. community institution after 118 years of operations

Off-road wheel and hub manufacturer Moveero Limited’s U.K. administration process and the auction of Moveero’s Telford-Shropshire plant

Buyer alert. After two failed efforts to sell off-highway wheel manufacturer Moveero and the shuttering of Moveero’s historic Telford plant in the U.K., private equity giant Aurelius finds itself under the spotlight of public scrutiny, just as it should be.

Before being acquired by Aurelius Group, off-highway wheel manufacturer GKN Wheels & Structures had a storied history spanning 112 years in the United Kingdom. GKN operated from the historic Hadley Castle Works facility in Telford-Shropshire, where it employed 250 staff constructing chassis frames and other components for automotive and off-highway industries. According to the Express & Star, the firm was linked to the name Joseph Sankey & Sons, which played a vital role in manufacturing Spitfires during the Second World War.

GKN maintained long-term relationships with its partners; the firm served JCB for thirty years, and from 2010 to 2020 supplied JCB with over 22,000 chassis frames and more than one million wheels globally. Working alongside JCB engineers, GKN constructed the chassis that enabled JCB to create the world’s fastest tractor—a Fastrac model capable of reaching a top speed of 153.8 mph.

In September 2020, GKN announced that, despite challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, it had re-built the entire production line of the Telford plant, enabling it to produce more than three times as many wheels as the old plant—55 off-highway wheels per hour.  Darren Dobson, Head of Operations at Telford, said, “The factory is quite simply unrecognizable from what it was just a couple of years ago and we now have a modern, twenty first century manufacturing facility.”

Enter Aurelius.

In October 2020, Aurelius announced it was acquiring GKN, which operated manufacturing facilities in the United States and Denmark in addition to the U.K. plant. The transaction was finalized in November 2020.

Dr. Dirk Markus, chief executive officer of the Aurelius Group, said at the time: “This acquisition is another example of Aurelius’s strength in acquiring non-core divisions of large corporates and successfully executing these complex transactions. As a global market leader with a strong and committed customer base, GKN Wheels & Structures is well-positioned for future growth under Aurelius’s ownership.”

From 2021 to 2022, Aurelius provided positive reports regarding GKN, which it rebranded to Moveero in August 2021.

  • Aurelius reported in August 2022 that “The portfolio companies moveero, Silvan, Conaxess Trade Group, Distrelec, and European Imaging Group also reported strong operating results.”
  • Moveero’s UK branch Moveero Limited (“Moveero Limited”) reported revenue of £37,446,000 and profit of £505,000 for the year ended December 31, 2021.

However, from 2022 to 2023, Moveero Limited began to suffer under Aurelius’s stewardship.

  • Moveero Limited reported revenue of £45,364,000 and an operating loss of £1,485,000 for the year ended December 31, 2022.
  • Moveero Limited reported revenue of £44,072,000 and an operating loss of £242,000 for the year ended December 31, 2023.

Moveero’s UK Group (Sankey Holding Limited as holding company for Moveero Limited and Autostructures Limited) entered into administration—the UK equivalent of bankruptcy—on March 26, 2026 after becoming insolvent. Ryan Grant, Chris Pole, and Sam Birchall of Interpath were appointed as the joint administrators, taking control of the business’s operations and assets from the previous directors. The company entered administration citing a weakened off-highway market, strong competition, and structural costs.

In administration filings, Moveero Limited reported that before entering administration, “the directors and ultimate shareholder explored strategic options, including a consensual sale of the wider Moveero Group. Whilst sale processes for non-UK parts of the group continue, no deliverable interest emerged for the UK operations.”

As of December 31, 2024, the last year for which it provided accounts, Moveero Limited reported a loss of £4.4 million, and sales had dropped 26% to £32.6 million. Parent company Sankey Holding Limited was buried under £18.9 million in liabilities with only £119,000 in current assets. Interpath stated that the firm entered administration to protect the interests of creditors, allowing for operations to continue as Moveero Limited looks for a buyer, and that its “immediate priority is to seek buyers for the UK businesses and assets.”

CEO David Geraghty stated that customers had provided emergency funding during this period, that has “given us the additional time we need to continue to explore the options available.”

But Aurelius and Interpath’s effort to sell Moveero Limited failed yet again. In late June 2026, operations ceased at the Telford plant and 98 workers were made redundant (the UK term for laid off). Interpath reported that the financial investment required to turn the business around meant a sale was not possible.

That is so despite the fact, discussed above, that Moveero’s former owner rebuilt the entire production line of the Telford plant immediately before selling Moveero to Aurelius.

Under UK insolvency hierarchy, the funds realized by Interpath from selling off the Telford factory assets, machinery, and intellectual property at an online auction held on July 15, 2026 are allocated in the following priority order: secured creditors with a fixed charge (creditors with security over a specific asset such as a bank with a mortgage), insolvency practitioners’ fees and expenses, preferential creditors (such as employee salaries and pension contributions), secondary preferential creditors (including certain HMRC debts), prescribed part creditors (the Enterprise Act 2002 created a guarantee for unsecured creditors to receive a proportion of the distribution to certain secured creditors), secured creditors with a floating charge (creditors with security over the company’s general pool of assets, rather than a specific asset), non-preferential creditors (unsecured creditors such as suppliers owed payment, or customers owed refunds), and shareholders.

Moveero Limited has three secured creditors – Wells Fargo (which was repaid in full as of May 6, 2026), Aurelius, and Moveero A/S (Moveero’s Denmark branch group).  Interpath stated on May 6, 2026 that “We anticipate that there will be a distribution to Aurelius from the UK Group, however timing and amounts are currently uncertain until the sale of business process is concluded (Section 5 – Dividend Prospects),” that “it is unknown whether there will be sufficient funds to enable a distribution to Nagbol (Moveero A/S)” and that “Based on current estimates, it is unlikely that there will be a dividend to unsecured creditors (Section 5 – Dividend prospects).”

Sankey Holding Limited also holds an investment in Moveero Group’s technology centre, Moveero Srl, which is based in Italy. In its administration filing, Sankey states that “We will pursue realisations from this investment through the sale of business process.”

Potential buyers and other interested stakeholders should ask Aurelius, Interpath, Moveero and other affiliated entities the following questions:

  • Why did the firms’ efforts to sell Moveero fail twice?
  • How much emergency funding did Moveero’s customers provide, and will they be repaid?
  • Did the Aurelius invest in further modernizing the Telford plant, and if not, why not?
  • What effect if any has the administration process had on Moveero’s operations in Denmark and Italy? Specifically, will Moveero A/S be repaid, and will Moveero’s technology centre in Italy have a new owner?
  • Has Aurelius damaged Moveero’s decades-long relationships with customers? Will Moveero’s customers outside of the U.K. trust a firm that was forced to auction off the Telford plant for parts?
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