Manchester contractor Artez collapsed owing £4m
The construction company entered voluntary liquidation last month, appointing RSM Restructuring Advisory to handle the process.
A statement of affairs published on Companies House reveals that Artez had debts of £4.1m.
Liquidators only anticipate to recover £53,675.
Of the total debt, £880,000 is owed to trade creditors including £133,000 to Wirral-based MAC Roofing.
Artez owes £450,000 to NatWest and £237,000 to both peer-to-peer lender Funding Circle and HMRC.
Artez Interiors, part of the wider group, is owed £450,000. The company’s interiors arm is unaffected by the liquidation of the construction division.
Another £305,000 is owed to Banton Investments, a company set up by Artez managing director Mike Banton in 2019.
In addition, £141,600 is owed to Artez employees and directors, according to the statement of affairs.
At the time of its collapse, Artez was nearing completion on Capital&Centric’s Crusader Mill residential scheme.
Speaking at the time, Banton said the business had struggled as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and had recently suffered “vast cost increases” as well as labour and material shortages.
“These factors have proved impossible to trade through despite support from funders, key customers and some very sympathetic subcontractors,” Banton added.
Artez’s past projects included the redevelopment of Bolton’s Market Place Vaults into retail and restaurant units for Moorgarth.
Artez also revamped Stubbs Mill for Urban Splash in 2016 and constructed the distinctive gold Alchemist restaurant for Living Ventures at Salford Quays.
