Administrators have set out the challenges faced by National Timber Group, which had owned the Arnold Laver business
An aerial view of the Hull business Arnold Laver(Image: Ian Bracegirdle)
The former parent company of Hull timber business Arnold Laver owed a long list of creditors more than £17m when it collapsed into administration. The National Timber Group called in business advisors at Alvarez & Marsal at the end of last year after a period of challenging trading squeezed its finances.
The group – consisting of separate firms including Thornbridge, NYTimber, Rembrand Timber and Arnold Laver – had 47 sites employing more than 1,100 people. However, 13 were shut immediately after Alvarez & Marsal were appointed joint administrators of the five entities, putting 561 people out of work.
As we previously reported, the Hull site, trading as Arnold Laver, stayed open but 13 jobs were cut. The remaining workforce was saved last month when administrators struck a deal with new owners Premier Forest Products to take on the site.
Fresh documents filed at Companies House now reveal the scale of National Timber Group England Ltd debts when it collapsed. Unsecured trade creditors – including HMRC – are owed an estimated £17.28m. Assets available to creditors total just £800,000 , leaving a total deficit of £16.55m.
Administrators handling the affairs published a huge list of creditors – including some in the region – who have been left out of pocket. Among them, HMRC is owed about £5m but is due to be paid in full. Meanwhile, insolvency experts at Alvarez & Marsal say it is unlikely that unsecured creditors will receive any money.
Rival Premier Forest Group bought the Hull distribution facility – along with sister sites in Manchester and Reading – saving 18 jobs there. It says the business will strength its operation in Yorkshire and Humber, with the acquisition marking the latest in a string of deals for the Welsh business.
Meanwhile, the report by the administrators of National Timber Group detail the challenges it faced in the run up to December’s collapse. They say the group had been loss making in recent years, having seen trading deteriorate since 2022.
In January last year, the group negotiated a financial restructuring with investors PGIM – swapping more than £85m of debt for 90% ownership of the business. Bosses followed that up with a turnaround plan that aimed to cut costs, including closure of some branches, making a number of redundancies and reducing stock.
That year there was also a shake-up of senior management including a new chief executive brought in around June. Despite the efforts, the group suffered a £6.1m loss in the nine months to the end of September 2025.
Shortly afterwards, the investors denied requests for a further £9m. With managers facing mounting pressure from creditors, they called in administrators.
National Timber Group started in 1920, when Arnold Laver returned home from Germany after WW1. He told his father that instead of rejoining the family business, he wanted to set up a timber merchant with his savings.
Mr Laver’s first site was in Heeley, Sheffield, with customers paying cash in advance to fund stock buying. Deliveries were made by hand cart at first before the business brought in horses and machinery.
The business continued to grow, becoming what was one of the largest independent timber merchants in the country. In 2018 Arnold Laver merged with The National Timber Group.