A South West-based subsea and offshore wind company, Beam, has gone into administration resulting in the loss of more than 160 jobs. This comes just eight months after the firm announced ambitious plans to double its workforce.
Beam, headquartered in Bristol, was formed in September last year through the merger of subsea pioneer Rovco and its spin-off Vaarst. The two companies had been at the forefront of developing and deploying AI and autonomy-enabled services within the offshore wind sector, aiming to reduce costly underwater repair, maintenance and inspection work.
At the time of the merger, founder Brian Allen stated that they shared a mission “to help the sector become more reliable, efficient and cost-effective – so improving its commercial viability compared to oil and gas.” However, the firm was unable to finalise an accelerated sale of its business and assets last month and has now appointed David Shambrook and Damian Webb of RSM UK Restructuring Advisory as joint administrators following an unsuccessful attempt to raise equity.
Following the administrators’ appointment, 162 of Bream’s 195 employees have been made redundant. The administrators are now exploring various options to maximise returns for creditors and, where feasible, preserve jobs for the remaining staff.
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