Administration · 28 November 2018

Bolt And Heeks

Main contractor · Ongar · East Anglia

What happened

BOLT AND HEEKS LIMITED (company number 00789858), incorporated in 1964, entered administration on 28 November 2018. Its status at Companies House is now: liquidation.

Why it failed

Estimating errors, squeezed margins, late client payments and tightened supplier credit drained cash in 2018; the bank withdrew its overdraft, new funding was limited and creditor pressure became severe.

Main reason: Cash flow
Losses on contracts
Clients not paying or failing
Funding withdrawn
Market downturn

Our summary of the reasons given in the administrators' proposals. These record the administrators' and directors' account of what happened.

An administrator, a licensed insolvency practitioner, takes control of the company to try to rescue it, sell the business or get a better result for creditors than a liquidation.

Timeline

The last accounts and payment report before the failure, then what happened, with the time between each.

31 December 2017
Last accounts filed were made up to this date
11 months later
28 November 2018
Administration started
12 months later
26 November 2019
Administration ended
26 November 2019
Creditors' voluntary liquidation started (shareholders resolved to wind up)

AccountsPayment reportInsolvency

Before it failed

Key figures

Turnover in its last accounts, year to Dec 2017: £16.3m; Accounts at Companies House
Profit before tax, year to Dec 2017: £331k; Accounts at Companies House
Staff, year to Dec 2017: 66; Accounts at Companies House
Net assets, year to Dec 2017: £860k; Accounts at Companies House
Owed to unsecured creditors (estimated), as at 15 January 2019: £5.3m; Expected return to unsecured creditors: up to about 18p in the pound; Administrators' proposals

The last accounts filed were full accounts made up to 31 December 2017, 11 months before it went into administration.

The full filing history, including any late filings, charges and director changes, is on Companies House.

Lessons learned report

We're writing plain-English reports on major construction failures: who was involved, why it happened, the warning signs and how long they were visible, and what to look out for next time.

In the news

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