Halls Group auction sale will not be enough to pay creditors
Page 9
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
HOPES BY the administrator of Halls Group that its business and assets could be sold to pay creditors faded when the offers received were well below the auction value.
The news comes in the latest progress report from Baker Tilly, which also says unsecured creditors of the Norfolk building products own-account operator will not receive any dividend.
Halls Group had struggled with the recession and its effect on the building trade.
Competition also increased while margins reduced, and the joint administrators say it was inding cashlow management dificult before they were appointed on 12 July (CM 21 July).
Baker Tilly says it initially thought it could sell the business and assets following interest in the company, but the offers for the stock, plant and equipment fell short of their value. Instead, an auction was scheduled for earlier in September, which involved the sale of around a dozen vehicles, according to plant and assets valuers Edward Wells.
In the report, joint administrator Nigel Millar says claims from Halls Group’s 24 employees are in the region of £40,000 and that there should be a dividend to them.
However, he adds: “The unsecured creditors’ claims are estimated at £731,706.
“Based on current information and the level of secured and preferential claims, there will be no assets to enable a dividend to the unsecured creditors.”