A Northumberland construction specialist collapsed owing £3.6m to creditors, new documents reveal.
A total of 86 jobs were lost at Corbridge-based Joyce Construction and Civils just before Christmas, when project delays due to bad weather triggered cash flows issues.
Joyce Construction and Civils Ltd (JC&C) appointed FRP Advisory as administrators on December 3, soon after calling a team in for advice.
At the time, joint administrator Andrew Haslam said bad weather had sparked a chain of events which led to delayed payments, falling behind with creditors and the bank not being in a position to put any more money into the business, forcing it cease trading.
Now a statement of administrators proposals has been published, revealing how efforts had been made to save the business by finding a buyer.
A separate statement of affairs also reveals the firm owes £3.6m to creditors, including £2.38m to trade creditors, £44,333 in staff wages, redundancy and notice payments and £277,957 to HMRC.
The documents details how the business, which traded as JC&C, was run by Miles and Chris Joyce, after their father first launched the business in 1948.
It had been involved in drainage projects on schemes including Testo’s roundabout for the likes of Galliford Try, Costain and Vinci, and had grown annual turnover from £3m to £9m on the back of big contract wins, which also drove up employee numbers to 86.
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In 2017 Imperator Group expressed interest in buying the business but no offer was made and the following year the firm asked Benchmark International to seek a buyer. Thompsons expressed an interest but discussions didn’t end in an offer.
Then in November 2019, FRP advisory was brought in because directors had concerns over current and immediate future cashflow.
Directors had already put £1m into the business but had reached the point where the business could no longer trade, prompting the firm to be placed into administration on November 18.
Workers were, whoever, paid that month’s wages out of the firm’s existing overdraft.
Administrators had hoped to find a buyer, but as none has been found, they are now seeking a distribution for creditors in other ways.
Since the firm’s collapse, several courses of action have been taken, including an auction to sell plant and machinery, fixtures, fittings and equipment, while the sale of leasehold buildings is also being explored.
There are 182 creditors in all, and the document added that FRP Advsiory is looking to see if sufficident funds are available tomake any payments, while the statement of affairs shows that £634,052 is available for preferential creditors.
It is understood many of the firm’s employees found new jobs following the firm’s collapse.