Suppliers and customers claim they have been met with no response from bosses at the firm for weeks when trying to chase information about bills and invoices.
One trade source told The Glasgow Times that people in the jewellery industry had become increasingly worried about the firm’s future before a formal liquidation notice appeared on the Companies House website.
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They said: “Rumours had circulated for a while that the business was in trouble. I’d heard suppliers say that when they tried to get in touch, no calls were being returned and no emails were being answered.
“It was just mounting bills by the looks of it. The jewellery business in Glasgow is so competitive, customers just don’t have the money to spend like they did in previous years. It’s really sad to see such a respected firm go bust like this.”
The Ringmaker (Image: Colin Mearns)
The court documents names Azets in Renfrew as liquidators appointed to wind up Holkar Ltd and Ninety Four Ltd, which the Glasgow Times understands were the jewellers’ parent firms.
Our source added: “What was once a sparkling success story has turned into a financial nightmare for everyone involved sadly.”
The company has been inactive on its social media channels since early January. On The Ringmaker’s Facebook page, posts were still visible today from customers waiting on delivery of personally crafted goods. Several say they have now been contacted by the liquidators, while others claimed that they had been trying without success for over a week to reach the company.
The firm’s final social media posts show that the business had continued to trade over Christmas, offering deals of up to 50 per cent off goods.
The Ringmaker built a reputation as one of Glasgow’s finest producers of unique, personalised pieces, offering customers one-on-one consultations with specially trained designers to craft their dream items. Its website shows, as well as sales staff, it employed a team of specially trained designers across its Ingram Street showroom in Glasgow and the firm’s other base at Dundas Street in Edinburgh.
The Ringmaker has gone bust. (Image: Colin Mearns)
Accounts lodged on Companies House show the business had endured some difficult recent trading conditions.
Our source said: “The company’s largest debt would appear to have been to trade creditors, which aligns with rumours that they had kept trading despite being on the brink of being considered insolvent.
“This has left many unpaid and out of pocket sadly.”
Blair Milne, Restructuring and Insolvency Partner at Azets and the Joint Provisional Liquidator, said: “Holkar Ltd and Ninety Four Ltd, which traded in Glasgow and Edinburgh as The Ringmaker, experienced a difficult trading period in recent months and a downturn in trade in the run up to Christmas. This continued into the start of this year and led to the company being unable to pay its debts.
“Having sought professional advice, the directors took the difficult decision to cease trading on 13 January and seek the appointment of a liquidator. We were subsequently appointed as provisional liquidators to both businesses on 21 January.”
Mr Milne confirmed that sadly jobs had been lost as a result of the firms’ closure.
He added: “The two companies employed a total of nine people, all of whom have regrettably had to be made redundant, and this process was instigated prior to our appointment. We will help employees with their entitlement claims to the Redundancy Payments Service and shall safeguard the assets of the companies while we arrange their sale in an effort to provide a return to the company’s creditors.
“We have returned the majority of jewellery belonging to customers of both businesses and encourage anyone who has any queries relating to this case to contact the provisional liquidators via the Azets website.”
