Project overruns scupper fledgling Liverpool firm
A LIVERPOOL-based company which supplied workers to construction sites using steel-reinforced concrete frames has been placed into administration after less than a year in business.
Fixit Reinforcement had only traded for ten months but had worked on a number of high-profile schemes including the Co-op’s new £100m One Angel Square headquarters, improvements at Lime St station in Liverpool and the Commonwealth Sports Arena in Glasgow.
The company, which was run by Stephen Rooney, also employed more than 60 people at its peak and was on course to achieve turnover of more than £1.5m during its first year but found itself in financial difficulties when delays and cost overruns occurred on one of its largest contracts.
This led to cashflow problems as it incurred debts, principally to Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) for a VAT bill.
HMRC eventually issued a winding-up petition which was temporarily adjourned while it awaited payment which would have settled the debt, but further overruns led to the firm pulling its staff off the site and a contract dispute ensuing.
The firm then aappointed Altrincham-based insolvency firm Lucas Johnson as administrators.
Administrator Kevin Lucas said: “It is disappointing that HMRC have taken such a hard stance because if it had been possible to allow all assets to be realised in full outside of a formal insolvency process, the company’s financials suggest it could have paid its debts in full.”
