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Administration · 30 April 2024

Geoffrey Osborne

Main contractor · Reigate · South East England

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What happened

GEOFFREY OSBORNE LIMITED (company number 00873093), incorporated in 1966, entered administration on 30 April 2024. Its status at Companies House is now: administration.

Why it failed

Covid delays and about 30% cost inflation caused big losses on London projects; claims went unsettled, a working capital facility was withdrawn and no buyer or investor was found.

  • Main reason: Losses on contracts
  • Delays
  • Covid-19
  • Cost inflation
  • Clients not paying or failing
  • Funding withdrawn
  • Sale or investment failed
  • Market downturn
  • Cash flow

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.

  1. 30 September 2021

    Last accounts filed were made up to this date

    2 years later

  2. 30 September 2023

    Last payment practices report ends: average 30 days to pay, 40% of invoices not paid to agreed terms

    7 months later

  3. 30 April 2024

    Administration started

AccountsPayment reportInsolvency

Before it failed

Key figures

Turnover in its last accounts, year to Sept 2021
£325.8m
Accounts at Companies House
Profit before tax, year to Sept 2021
£2.0m
Accounts at Companies House
Staff, year to Sept 2021
870
Accounts at Companies House
Net assets, year to Sept 2021
£15.7m
Accounts at Companies House
Average days to pay suppliers, 1 April 2023 to 30 September 2023
30 days
7% paid after 60 days, 40% not paid to agreed terms
Its last payment practices report
Owed to unsecured creditors (estimated), as at 30 April 2024
£35.0m
HMRC owed £1.8m. a further £8.4m owed to its lenders. Expected return to unsecured creditors: nil
Administrators' proposals

The last accounts filed were group accounts made up to 30 September 2021, 31 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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