Administration · 15 March 2019

Interserve

Construction · Reading · South East England

What happened

INTERSERVE PLC (company number 00088456), incorporated in 1906, entered administration on 15 March 2019. Its status at Companies House is now: liquidation.

Why it failed

Losses on legacy construction contracts, especially energy-from-waste projects, and a weak financial position led to liquidity problems; shareholders then rejected the debt restructuring in March 2019, triggering administration.

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Funding withdrawn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

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: TILBURY DOUGLAS PLC, TILBURY GROUP PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY, TILBURY CONTRACTING GROUP PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY.

Timeline

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

31 December 2018
Last accounts filed were made up to this date
31 December 2018
Last payment practices report ends: average 29 days to pay, 61% of invoices not paid to agreed terms
3 months later
15 March 2019
Administration started
3 years later
20 December 2021
Winding-up petition presented
1 month later
21 January 2022
Administration ended
21 January 2022
Winding-up order made by the court

AccountsPayment reportInsolvency

Before it failed

Key figures

Turnover in its last accounts, year to Dec 2018: £2.9bn; Accounts at Companies House
Loss before tax, year to Dec 2018: £111.3m; Accounts at Companies House
Staff, year to Dec 2018: 41,423; Accounts at Companies House
Net liabilities, year to Dec 2018: £1.1m; Accounts at Companies House
Average days to pay suppliers, 1 July 2018 to 31 December 2018: 29 days; 10% paid after 60 days, 61% not paid to agreed terms; Its last payment practices report
Owed to its lenders, Administrators' proposals for Interserve plc: £814.5m; Expected return to unsecured creditors: prescribed part only (at most £600,000 in total); the businesses went to its lenders; Administrators' proposals for Interserve plc

The last accounts filed were group accounts made up to 31 December 2018, 2 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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