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A large construction firm has gone into liquidation with the loss of 102 jobs.

Contract Services (South Wales) Limited has traded in Port Talbot and Caerphilly for 21 years.

But it “faced unexpected cash flow pressures” earlier this year and has now ceased trading.

Business rescue and recovery specialists Begbies Traynor are now taking the firm through the process of liquidation.

The company stopped trading on August 11 and is set to enter voluntary liquidation on August 22. It had been running since 1996.

In 2014, the firm recorded “unprecedented growth” for the first half of the year , after signing several new contracts.

At the time, it was put down to “a return of confidence in the construction sector” which was hit hard during the economic downturn.

The company, which specialised in large volume maintenance and repair work, retrofitting and general construction projects, signed a £1.2m contract with Cardiff council to carry out enhancement works at the Trowbridge Mawr housing estate in St Mellons.

Huw Powell, partner at Begbies Traynor’s Swansea and Cardiff offices, said: “It is disappointing to see a leading Welsh business have to close its doors in this way after many years of successful trading, particularly one that prided itself on supporting a local SME supply chain, the communities it worked in and its employees through training and being an early adopter of the living wage.

“We will be writing to all creditors over the course of the next few days with details of the liquidation process.”

Stephen Kinnock, MP for Aberavon, said: “The loss of over 100 jobs as Contract Services ceases trading will be a huge blow to the local economy and the individuals involved, I have been contacted by former employees who are quite understandably concerned for their future having so suddenly lost their jobs with no apparent support in place.

“With the pressures on the local economy still quite clearly evident, it is more important now than ever to see some serious investment in the area from the UK Government – projects like the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon or electrification of the railway line to Swansea have the potential to significantly boost the entire region but are being stalled or scrapped by successive Tory ministers with little regard to the consequences.”