A NEWPORT company is about to go into administration because of the “ineptitude” of the Welsh Government, it has been claimed.

Coilcolor, in the Whitehead Estate, in Docks Way, employs 50 people and manufactures steel panels for companies such as Ikea and EasyJet.

Dean Proctor, managing director of the company, said their factory flooded twice last November after the Welsh Government cleared the land around their factory so it could be built on.

He claims that, on November 9, of last year, the finished goods section of his business flooded because of the drainage in the Welsh Government’s land.

“This cost us 50 per cent of our business,” he continued. “Our unique selling point is that we deliver in a maximum of seven days. When this happened, we had to put it up to 14 days and we lost 50 per cent of our orders.”

He said that, after this incident, the Welsh Government built an earth bund, but that the next time it rained, on November 22, the earth bund guided the water further up in the factory.

Mr Proctor continued: “The second flood was much worse and it affected all our finished good section. This meant our machinery was out of action up until the end of January.”

He said, ever since, they have been having problems with their insurance – Allianz – and that they have not been paid the claim yet.

They understand the insurance claim would be for more than £3.7m, for work lost, machinery repairs and stock damage.

Seven weeks ago, he claims they told the Welsh Government they needed £600,000 to keep them going until they found a new buyer for the company.

“In a meeting held without prejudice, which means those discussions can’t be used for legal action, they said they would look into it and make a payment,” he added. “We have had quite a few buyers interested.

“We told them that it was simple – if you pay us now, you can save the jobs. If you won’t pay us until we go to court, the jobs will probably have been lost.”

Mr Proctor said no payment has been made and the company has now filed a notice to go into administration and that they expect to be in administration by the beginning of next week.

“We are told that most of the jobs will be gone soon. This is entirely down to the ineptitude of the Welsh Government,” he said.

The Welsh Government has said they are waiting for a formal claim from the company.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “The Welsh Government has always acted promptly in handling this case, but has never received any official claim from Coilcolor or its insurers. We put the company in touch with Finance Wales to enable them to access financial support and have met regularly with the company while they disputed a claim with their insurers.

“No without prejudice payment was ever promised by Welsh Government officials.”

Nick Lock, head of property claims, Allianz Insurance, said: “We can confirm that following storms in November 2016 we received two flood claims from Coilcolor resulting from rainwater run-off from the adjoining land. As both parties are currently involved in legal discussions we are unable to offer further comment at this time.”