Outlook for Pochin’s creditors ‘uncertain’
Grant Thornton, the administrator attached to the Cheshire-based firm which fell into administration last September, said that payment of £89m to unsecured creditors was “uncertain” in its most recent update.
In the first administrator’s report, published in October 2019 it was estimated that the dividend to be paid to unsecured creditors was likely to be in the order of 4p in the pound.
However, this ratio is not mentioned in the most recent report which states “the dividend to unsecured creditors is currently uncertain pending the realisation of remaining assets.”
Pochin’s demise is largely put down to four problematic residential jobs which led to estimated losses of around £17m across Pochin’s Construction and the company’s residential arm.
As a result, the company was ultimately unable to continue trading leaving many contractors significantly out of pocket.
Some of the firms owed six figures by the collapsed contractor include:
- Stoke-based Carter Electrical Services, owed £740,000
- CS Civils & Groundwork, based in Leigh, owed £373,000
- Salford-based Quartzelec, owed £328,500
- Liverpool M&E contractor Laycock Mechanical Services, owed £236,000
- Blackpool-based JMC Mechanical & Electrical, owed £182,200
- Walker Modular, owed £143,000
- M&E contractor HE Simm, based in Liverpool and owed £114,000
The process of the realisation of assets is ongoing with an estimated £750,000, down from an initial estimate of £950,000, in anticipated recoveries of the £13.5m owed to the company by debtors or through retentions. To date no recoveries have been made in this regard with the administrators not expecting to see any money for over 12 months.
The £13.5m owed by debtors is spread across 34 contracts, seven of which, worth £5,8m, were live when the administrators were appointed.
The company is also owed £13.1m by other companies in the group but “recoverability will not be established until the finalisations of other administrations within the group” according to the report.
In terms of realised assets, plant, machinery and fixtures and fittings were sold at auction by Hilco for £260,000 while some IT equipment, which had been retained by staff when they were made redundant, was also returned. Some remains outstanding.
Secured creditor, NatWest bank, which was owed £8.6m by the group’s parent company, has received £6.6m of that amount.
[THREE STAFF GET 100P IN THE POUND]
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