Norton Motorcycles enters administration

BDO has been appointed to take control of the affairs of the British bike manufacturer.

The administrators have also been called into Priest House Hotel at Castle Donington, which is linked to the motorcycle business. Legacy Hotels and Resorts will run the hotel until a buyer is found, business-live.co.uk has confirmed.

Norton owner Stuart Garner revived the iconic brand in 2008 and the company presently employs around 100 people in the manufacture of bikes including the Commando 961 Café Racer, Dominator and V4 RR, which attracted worldwide interest.

The marque also returned to its racing heritage, competing at the Isle of Man TT with a number of high-profile riders including Australians Cameron Donald, Josh Brookes and David Johnson, while 23-time TT winner John McGuinness was the main rider for the Norton team in 2019, when Peter Hickman and Davey Todd also signed for Garner to contest the Lightweight class on the new 650 Superlight machine.

Hickman is due to ride a Norton Superlight machine again this year at the North West 200 and TT, run by his Smiths Racing team.

Earlier in January, Mr Garner confirmed he was working with HMRC to avoid a winding up order in relation to £300,000 of unpaid taxes. However, he said this amount was mainly covered by research and development tax relief owed to the business.

Three weeks ago, the High Court’s Insolvency and Companies Court in London heard that HMRC was owed around £600,000, with half being paid so far.

Norton’s financial representatives told the court the company was due £135,000 in research and development tax credits, which were awaiting approval by HMRC. The company asked for 63 days to pay the outstanding amount.

The News Letter has made an attempt to contact Mr Garner for comment.