A Warsaw court has rejected a request to allow Ursus, Poland’s largest tractor and machinery manufacturer, to start recovery procedures and subsequently declare its insolvency, according to a report from Bloomberg Industry.

The court ruling saw the Polish manufacturer’s shares plummet by a massive 47% overnight – from 0.78 Polish zloty (17c) to 0.41 Polish zloty (9c). Since the court ruling earlier this month, its share price has further fallen to 0.33 Polish zloty (7c).

It’s understood that Ursus, which was founded 128 years ago, back in 1893, has struggled with financial problems for years, with the firm believed to have ended last year with a loss in excess of €12m.

Bloomberg revealed that Ursus has incurred losses since 2017, as the company’s expansion into electric and hydrogen buses failed to generate profit, while orders of tractors from Africa declined.

Attempts to restructure the company in recent years included plans to sell two of its manufacturing sites. One of these sites was subsequently purchased by Dutch diet feeder manufacturer Trioliet last year.

It is also reported that Ursus had signed several memorandums of understanding, with Chinese and Korean partners, for proposed joint ventures in e-bus production. However, the proposed agreements since failed to materialise.

Ursus in Ireland

Ursus tractors have been sold in Ireland since the 1960s. They were originally imported by the Smith Group and the franchise moved to Eamus Ireland in the 1970s.

With the demise of the Eamus operations, owned by the O’Shea Group, D&S Tractors was established as the Irish importer of Ursus tractors in 1985.

In 2014, Wexford-based tractor dealer Denis Sutton began importing Ursus. With four shareholders trading as Ursus Tractors and Machinery, Sutton continued trading the brand up until the company was dissolved and closed in August 2019.

The Irish Bulletin of Vehicle and Driver Statistics (2020) report showed that a total of 930 Ursus tractors were taxed on Irish roads at 31 December 2020. This ranked Ursus tractors ahead of other common brands such as Kubota, Renault, Lamborghini, JCB, Valmet, Tumosan, Steyr and Leyland.