Essex firm sank in February but was bought up under a pre-pack deal
The administrator of a cladding and roofing contractor which worked on a new stand going up at Liverpool’s Anfield ground has confirmed unsecured creditors are not set to get any of the money they’re owed back.
In an update filed at Companies House, Quantuma Advisory, the administrator for SD Samuels (Special Projects), said unsecured creditors, owed £5.4m between them, were unlikely to see any money returned.
It added that it had received 87 claims from out of pocket firms totalling £3.4m so far and added: “It is not anticipated a dividend will be paid to unsecured creditors.”
The Essex-based firm, set up in 2004 to target jobs of £750,000 or more, went into administration on 13 February but was bought up for just over £159,000 on the same day under a pre-pack deal.
Quantuma said the firm’s bank HSBC, a secured creditor, was owed £764,000 at the time of the administration but admitted the amount the bank would get back and when had not yet been worked out.
HMRC, owed £433,000, has also been told how much it will get back and when has yet to be decided.
The collapsed firm had worked on the Anfield Road stand for Buckingham, which itself sank into administration earlier this month.
In an update earlier this month, Liverpool was unable to give a date when it would finish the 7,000 seat scheme. It said the upper tier of the stand would remain closed up to and including its Europa League game against Belgian club Union SG on 5 October.
It added that extra capacity would be “incrementally phased in after the next three home games” with these concluding with the 5 October match.
The job was supposed to be ready in time for the start of the new season but has been operating at reduced capacity since Liverpool’s first home game on 19 August against Bournemouth. It is estimated the club is racking up £750,000 per home game of lost revenue meaning if the stand is ready for its next home game after 5 October, the Merseyside derby against Everton on 21 October, it will have accumulated £3.75m in lost earnings.
In an earlier update which explained the reasons for the pre-pack, Quantum said there was “no prospect of persuading new funding to allow medium-term trading to continue” and added: “The benefits of achieving a pre-package sale were the transfer of employees and the absence of a break in supply of goods and services.”
The new owner is called SD Samuels Ltd, three of whose directors held directorships at SD Samuels (Special Projects), while a fourth is a former director of the business. SD Samuels Ltd is part of a business set up in 1993.
Quantuma said the pre-pack sale was wrapped up with an initial payment of £20,000 made on the day of the sale with the remainder set to be paid in monthly instalments.
The update said the new firm had made six payments totalling just over £51,000 to the end of July with the remainder due to be paid off by June next year.
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