Contractor collapsed owing creditors £33m
Collapsed contractor J Tomlinson owed over £33m to creditors when it called in administrators, according to documents seen by TheBusinessDesk.com.
The firm, which turned over £94m for the year ending September 2022, had its head office in Beeston and bases in Sutton Coldfield, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Wigan, Derby, Sheffield, Doncaster, Wakefield and Bulwell, Nottingham, appointed administrators from FRP Advisory in July.
It has also emerged that trade creditors are owed over £17m by J Tomlinson. They are unlikely to see any of the cash due to them.
When administrators were called in – resulting in the loss of almost 400 jobs – Mark Davis, CEO of the firm, called the outcome “tragic”.
In a statement, which he signed off as “Yours, devastated”, he said: ““We as a board have worked tirelessly to attract additional overall finance into the group to invest for the future. Sadly today, we have to announce we have been unsuccessful in this regard.”
Today, more details have emerged as to why J Tomlinson went under.
Administrators outline that the company lost out on three major contracts, including; a £1.3m loss in relation to a contract to build student accommodation; a £2.5m loss on care sector construction projects; and a £2.7m payment due to Worcestershire County Council in April 2023 due to to an adverse result of an adjudication in relation to the construction of a school.
When they were appointed back in July, joint administrators Raj Mittal and Nathan Jones of FRP said: “Despite its scale and the success achieved across a number of its divisions, the severe impact of Covid and recent inflationary pressures meant that J Tomlinson was not in a financial position to continue trading and so we have had to make the difficult decision to cease operations.”
At the time, the news of J Tomlinson’s demise was met with anger by the firm’s sub-contractors. One said: “One said: “[J Tomlinson] didn’t let any contractors know, we were still out on site till 6pm today working for a company that called the administrators this morning. I feel for the staff, but what about my staff and the 60k hole you are going to leave with unpaid bills.”
