Cheshire mechanical and electrical engineering contractor Gilks (Nantwich) has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators.

Established over 60 years ago, the firm employs around 60 staff and last year delivered revenue of around £11m, down from £15m in the prior year.

Staff were first told the business was heading for administration on Monday but by Wednesday the said they were informed that the company would be liquidated and they would no longer have jobs.

One insider said: “The first we knew was on Monday when we had a teams call with the MD who informed us the company was applying to go in to administration and to carry on working as normal as nothing has changed.

“Then today (Wednesday) we all had another Teams call to inform us the company was being liquidated and we no longer had a job and would not be getting paid this was very upsetting.”

He said today he had been due to be paid seven weeks wages,  five weeks for last month and two weeks for this month.

Gilks is owned by the Ethikos Group, a Deeside-based acquirer of engineering businesses, which bought the electrical and mechanical engineering contractor in 2020.

Gilks was unavailable for comment.