Administrators appointed to Arley Homes parent

ADMINISTRATORS have been called in at the parent company of Warrington housebuilder Arley Homes.

Lyn Vardy and Toby Underwood of PwC in Manchester have been appointed to Arley Homes Ltd.

In a statement they said the move was part of a financial restructuring and it would not affect the trading business Arley Homes North West.

Its last set of trading figures showed a return to profit and stronger revenues but it was carrying debts of £26m. Auditors flagged up a net liability of £12.8m and warned that this, together with a September refinancing deadline of a £35m facility, constituted a material uncertainty.

Arley was created in 2005 following a management buy-in of Lindon Homes’ North West operations led by John Cosgrave in a £17m deal backed by Yorkshire Bank. Mr Cosgrave owns nearly all the shares in Arley Homes Ltd. Ian Crompton holds 2%.

Accounts for the year to May 2012 showed revenue nearly doubled to £19.7m while the company recorded a pre-tax profit of £1.2m, compared with a loss of £505,000 last time. Net debt in May 2012 was £26.5m, down from £31.1m.

The administrators said: “Arley Homes Limited is a non-trading holding company registered in Warrington, Cheshire and has no employees. Arley Homes Limited entered into administration as part of a financial restructuring process and its subsidiary, Arley Homes North West Limited, is not affected by this process and will continue trading as usual with ongoing developments being completed as planned.”