Collapsed Styles & Wood was £104m in the red

The Sale-based fit-out firm collapsed into administration in February with debts exceeding £100m, a fifth of which is owed to its suppliers, as a result of several  ‘problem’ contracts, according to an administrators report. 

Among the problem contracts was a project to fit out the India Buildings office scheme in Water Street, Liverpool, which incurred Styles & Wood a £12m loss. 

The £38m contract was terminated in September 2019 following delays brought about by the discovery of 400 tonnes of asbestos. Caddick took over the contract but was later replaced by Overbury.

Two cash injections from Styles & Wood’s shareholders in 2019, totalling £31m, could not prevent its slide into administration, the documents published this weeks said.  

The company’s creditors include DLM&E, a Bolton-based building services company owed £1.1m, and M&E solutions provider SES Engineering Services, which is owed £925,000. 

The company owes unsecured creditors a total of £54m. 

Some £32.5m of that is owed to other group companies, including Maraq, Styles & Wood Group, Southerns Holdings, Keysource, Space Invader Design and Styles & Wood’s parent company Extentia Group, which also called in administrators in February. 

Professional services firm EY, which is the administrator for Styles & Wood, said in the report that it anticipates creditors will receive renumeration of one pence in the pound. 

On top of this, the company, founded in 1981, also owes a further £50m to its secured creditors HSBC and Tosca, a firm that provides financing for SMEs.