A former subbie took a £3m hit when ISG was kicked off a project in spring 2024 – months before the main contractor’s administration.
Hampshire-based glazing specialist Vitrine Systems went into administration itself in November, blaming the prior collapse of ISG.
The assets of the £8.8m-turnover firm were sold to Vitrine Glazing, a company set up in June 2024 by Vitrine Systems director Maritz Naude, for £75,000.
According to a new report by administrators Quantuma Advisory, the problems for Vitrine Systems started during the Covid-19 pandemic when it was hit by delays in decision making and project starts, although it managed to weather the storm.
The report, based on information supplied by company directors, said that in the spring of 2024 it lost £3m from a job it had been counting on.
“The sum of £3m was a project with ISG, who in the spring were kicked off the site and the project was lost,” the report said.
No further details about the job were stated.
Vitrine managed to secure a job of equivalent value in Hull in the summer, but ISG started delaying its payments on three other projects where it was working, the report added.
“Following visits to their offices and relationships with their construction team, some of the payments were made and the remaining were promised imminently,” it said.
But when ISG went into administration in September, it still owed £300,000 to Vitrine, administrators at Quantuma added.
“In addition, there were projects in the future pipeline with ISG which were being tendered on,” they said. “The combination of these factors the direct lost cash, lost projects and removal of future pipeline – meant that it was no longer possible for the company to continue to operate.”
Despite the pre-pack sale, none of the 23 employees of Vitrine Systems were transferred to the new company.
The report revealed that former employees were owed £200,000, while trade and expense creditors were owed £1.8m by the subcontractor.
Very little of the money is expected to become available to pay either group back, though former employees are likely to have their claims met by taxpayer fund the Redundancy Payments Service, Quantuma said.
HMRC was owed £256,000 and Lloyds Bank was owed £140,000, with those totals likely to be paid back after the administration process.
Read More
Ian Weinfass