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Administration · 11 March 2019

Lakehouse Contracts

Housebuilder · Brentwood · East Anglia

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What happened

LAKEHOUSE CONTRACTS LIMITED (company number 02603357), incorporated in 1991, entered administration on 11 March 2019. Its status at Companies House is now: dissolved.

Why it failed

After a 2018 share purchase, overdue liabilities not found in due diligence brought creditor demands and legal claims that strained cash flow; working capital support proved insufficient.

  • Main reason: Cash flow
  • Legal claims

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: LAKEHOUSE MAINTENANCE LIMITED.

Timeline

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

  1. 30 September 2017

    Last accounts filed were made up to this date

    6 months later

  2. 31 March 2018

    Last payment practices report ends: average 49 days to pay, 91% of invoices not paid to agreed terms

    12 months later

  3. 11 March 2019

    Administration started

    5 months later

  4. 6 August 2019

    Administration ended

  5. 6 August 2019

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

    7 years later

  6. 7 April 2026

    Due to be dissolved

AccountsPayment reportInsolvency

Before it failed

Key figures

Turnover in its last accounts, year to Sept 2017
£96.1m
Accounts at Companies House
Profit before tax, year to Sept 2017
£6.9m
Accounts at Companies House
Staff, year to Sept 2017
228
Accounts at Companies House
Net assets, year to Sept 2017
£2.5m
Accounts at Companies House
Average days to pay suppliers, 1 October 2017 to 31 March 2018
49 days
29% paid after 60 days, 91% not paid to agreed terms
Its last payment practices report
Owed to unsecured creditors (estimated), as at 1 May 2019
£9.8m
of which trade creditors £9.0m. HMRC owed £469k. staff owed £390k. Expected return to unsecured creditors: about 31p in the pound (estimate, before later costs)
Administrators' proposals

The last accounts filed were full accounts made up to 30 September 2017, 17 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

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