Dawson on the brink as shares suspended

The sum demanded – issued by the fund’s actuaries – was undisclosed although sources suggested it was “many, many times the market value of the company”, which last night stood at £680,000. The company yesterday met advisers to determine whether the claims were valid and if it would force the company into administration, putting 200 employees out of work. The threat of administration has been hanging over Dawson – best known as the former owner of Pringle and Ballantine – for just over a week after the Hawick-based group’s chairman, David Bolton, revealed that negotiations to offload its vast pension scheme liabilities into a government rescue fund had failed. The government’s Pension Protection Fund (PPF)rejected a package of proposals and yesterday’s move to shut down trading in its shares brings the threat of insolvency closer. Sources said that the appointment of administrators would be an “inevitable outcome” for the company. Bolton has previously said he expected “significant interest in the business” in the event of it being put into administration. The company has a strong balance sheet and still produces high-end cashmere knitwear under its Barrie brand. But it is thought that the Pension Regulator would take a dim view if the management attempts to buy the business in a “pre-pack” administration, where the buyer is already in place. The company said that the companies at risk – subsidiary Dawson International Trading Ltd and its parent company, Dawson International – did not extend to its US knitwear business, Dawson Forte, which it said was “well funded and continues to trade normally”. The trustees said that the long-standing negotiation with the company had “unfortunately not come to an acceptable conclusion”. It added that: “The best interests of the pension scheme members make it appropriate for determinations to be made under the rules of the pension plans specifying amounts of contributions payable by the employers to the plans. “These determinations have now been made, and notice of them has been given to the group.”