Creditors owed £33m by collapsed J Tomlinson set to get some funds

Unsecured creditors linked to collapsed contractor J Tomlinson are set to receive a dividend after all, after HMRC claimed less money than was expected.

Administrators from FRP Advisory did not expect unsecured creditors – including the construction supply chain – to receive any of the £33m they were owed when J Tomlinson went under in July 2023.

But they have now changed tack after secondary preferential creditor HMRC claimed less than half of what FRP Advisory had expected the UK tax body to claim, leaving funds for unsecured creditors.

FRP Advisory is now pursuing a creditors’ voluntary liquidation (CVL) rather than a full dissolution. A CVL allows directors of a firm to fulfil their duties to creditors and take control of the liquidation process.

In documents published earlier this month, the administrators said: “As the joint administrators are now of the view that a dividend will also become payable to the unsecured creditors […] it is appropriate for [J Tomlinson] to move from administration to creditors’ voluntary liquidation pursuant to Paragraph 83 of Schedule B1 of the Insolvency Act 1986.” 

It is unclear how much money unsecured creditors will receive, or when it will become available, “as this will be dependent on the final debtor realisations, and the final level of preferential claims”.

As a secondary preferential creditor, HMRC receives money from administration processes before unsecured creditors. Initially, FRP Advisory expected it to claim about £5.3m, but it instead sought £2.7m, which the administrators expect to pay out in full. 

They said they also expect to pay out funds to unsecured creditors. So far, the administrators have received £18.1m worth of claims from unsecured creditors.

J Tomlinson, which was based in Beeston, Nottinghamshire, was employing about 400 people when it went under. The firm turned over £106m in its final full financial year, according to its last reported accounts.

The administrators cited “severe inflationary pressure on costs” for its demise.

They later added that the business had initially been rocked by “overdue retentions and other debtor balances, inflationary pressures and disputes regarding completion payments on large construction projects” in early 2022.