Creditors owed £12m at collapse of construction firm
270 YEAR-OLD construction and restoration firm William Anelay owed creditors £11.8m upon its collapse, which was almost averted.
A report filed last week stated that restoration specialists Szerelmey, which acquired some assets of the York business, was close to buying the entire company, but backed out before a deal was made. It said employee liability issues were the main reason.
In the end, 132 staff were made redundant.
It was revealed in the most recent report by administrators Begbies Traynor that the company owed nearly £1m to its bank, but unsecured creditors were owed a total of £12.6m, including nearly £300,000 to HMRC.
The company, which began trading in Doncaster in 1747 before moving to York as William Anelay in the 1920s, had enjoyed a period of growth prior to its administration, increasing turnover from £23m to £33m in the five years to 2015.
It struck trouble in 2015 when it started to take on bigger jobs and were within revenue margins but expected margins were not met and the company made “substantial” losses.
It was also revealed that its former commercial director, who resigned in January 2016, after which the board realised that figures that had been reported to them were innaccurate.
A CVA which was launched when the board realised it could not trade with such serious cash flow issues failed and it was placed into administration on 8 September 2016.
