Family-owned construction firm went under owing £2m

The unsecured creditors of failed Leicestershire construction firm J A Ball are to be offered just 3p of every pound they’re owed in proposals set out by administrators.

The company officially ceased trading on Friday 25th September with 18 employees being made redundant. Insolvency practitioner Michael Roome, from Smith Cooper, was appointed to lead the administration process.

When it went under at the end of September, the company owed almost £2m to creditors.

The Leicestershire company worked directly with private developers, public sector organisations and businesses to provide full project management, and had extensive experience in both housing and commercial developments, as well as refurbishments.

At its height the firm employed 50 people, but during 2019 saw the average value of its contracts reduce and accrued losses of around £3.1m due to disputes over overunning contracts.

This was followed by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic which closed many sites leading to missed completion dates. This led bosses at the firm to cut staff numbers down to 17. However, documents seen by TheBusinessDesk.com say this had little effect on cashflow issues and the firm was placed into administration, making all employees redundant in September.

Latest available accounts for the year show the rapid downfall of J A Ball. For the 12 months to January 31, the firm made a profit of £522,155 on a turnover of almost £36m.

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