TEXTILE hire to dry cleaning operator Johnson Service Group has sold a loss-making engineering firm.

Workplace Engineering was based in Bristol and provided mechanical and electrical engineering maintenance services for a range of customers.

But it made a £500,000 operating loss in the first half of 2009 and, after a management review, parent company Johnson, based at Runcorn’s Preston Brook, decided to dispose of the operation and its contracts.

MSS Facilities, part of Managed Supported Services, has bought the business for £200,000 in cash with a further £100,000 due on satisfaction of certain criteria, once the sale is completed.

Johnson said the total loss from the discontinued operations of Workplace Engineering is estimated to be about £4.3m, comprising the trading loss to November 30 of about £1.5m, reorganisation and closure costs of approximately £1.2m and goodwill write off of £1.6m.

It said the total cash effect of the reorganisation and closure costs is expected to be in the region of £700,000.

Announcing the disposal, the group reported that its three major divisions – textile rental, facilities management and its Prescot-based dry cleaning arm – all continue to perform satisfactorily and in line with management expectations “in what continues to be a difficult market.”

Johnson Service Group was previously headquartered in Mildmay Road, Bootle, before relocating briefly to London, then Runcorn.