Failed Inverness house builder Roy Homes owed more than £1million to creditors when it went out of business, a report by the administrator appointed when the firm ceased trading has shown.
The update, from FRP Advisory, revealed that a debt of £215,797 with the Bank of Scotland had been settled following the sale of the company’s former headquarters, at Lotland Street in the Highland capital.
Former employees are expected to get some of the more than £18,000 they are owed, but it still remains unclear if the 84 unsecured creditors that have claimed for repayment of debts totalling £806,863 will receive any money.
Roy Homes and sister company Roy Homes Timber Frame, which between them employed 17 people, called in administrators in January 2017 when it became clear they could no longer continue trading.
Weeks later it was announced that the firms’ management team had put together a successful package to acquire the majority assets of the former bespoke house builder and timer frame kit supplier. They said they planned to merge the businesses with their then recently-formed business Ptarmigan Homes, which is also based in Inverness.
The new company said it had offered new employment contracts to many Roy Homes office and site management staff and pledged to complete all projects the firm had been working on when it went bust. Elgin-based builder Springfield Properties also stepped in with an offer of work for any employees who lost their jobs.
The administrator’s progress report, released by Companies House, stated that: “The level of dividend, if any, to unsecured creditors is dependent on the total dependant on the total amount of asset realisations.”
It also showed that former employees, regarded as the failed firms’ “preferential creditors,” were owed a total of £18,501 in wage arrears, unpaid pension contributions and holiday pay.
The administrators said it was “currently estimated that there will be sufficient funds available to make a distribution to preferential creditors in due course,” although the amount would also depend on total realisations.
The report added that six claims totalling £40,114 had been made by unsecured creditors of Roy Homes Timber Frame. The administrators said it was estimated that there would not be sufficient funds available to pay them.
Initially due to be completed last year, the period of administration for the two companies had been extended by creditors and will now continue until next January.
Yesterday, a spokesman for FRP Advisory, said the administrators had no comment to make on the progress report.
Ptarmigan Homes did not respond to a request for a comment.
According to Companies House Records former Roy Homes managing director Chris Barnett, who was among the directors of Ptarmigan Homes, stepped down from his role with the company earlier this year.
