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Administration · 6 December 2019

Clugston Construction

Main contractor · Scunthorpe · Yorkshire and the Humber

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What happened

CLUGSTON CONSTRUCTION LIMITED (company number 00681537), incorporated in 1961, entered administration on 6 December 2019. Its status at Companies House is now: dissolved.

Why it failed

Onerous energy-from-waste contracts caused heavy losses and cash pressure; further losses, a key subcontractor failing and shared group bank facilities left the company unable to pay its debts.

  • Main reason: Losses on contracts
  • Cash flow
  • Group company failed

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.

Previously known as: CLUGSTON LIMITED, CLUGSTON SLAG COMPANY LIMITED, CLUGTON SLAG COMPANY LIMITED.

Timeline

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

  1. 31 January 2018

    Last accounts filed were made up to this date

    18 months later

  2. 27 July 2019

    Last payment practices report ends: average 30 days to pay, 19% of invoices not paid to agreed terms

    5 months later

  3. 6 December 2019

    Administration started

    23 months later

  4. 25 November 2021

    Administration ended

  5. 25 November 2021

    Creditors' voluntary liquidation started (shareholders resolved to wind up)

    5 years later

  6. 6 October 2026

    Due to be dissolved

AccountsPayment reportInsolvency

Before it failed

Key figures

Turnover in its last accounts, year to Jan 2018
£157.8m
Accounts at Companies House
Loss before tax, year to Jan 2018
£438k
Accounts at Companies House
Staff, year to Jan 2018
441
Accounts at Companies House
Net assets, year to Jan 2018
£6.9m
Accounts at Companies House
Average days to pay suppliers, 27 January 2019 to 27 July 2019
30 days
7% paid after 60 days, 19% not paid to agreed terms
Its last payment practices report
Owed to suppliers and subcontractors (estimated), as at 6 December 2019
£70.9m
a further £6.0m owed to its lenders. Expected return to unsecured creditors: prescribed part only
Administrators' proposals

The last accounts filed were full accounts made up to 31 January 2018, 22 months before it went into administration. Private companies have nine months after their year end to file, so a gap of more than 21 months usually means the next accounts were overdue, one of the warning signs worth checking for.

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

Lessons learned report

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