Supply chain partners to collapsed housebuilder Inland Homes have been given renewed hope they will ultimately receive some funds.
In their latest update, administrators from FRP Advisory said it was now “likely that there will be sufficient funds available to enable a dividend to unsecured creditors”.
In May, FRP warned no funds would be available for unsecured creditors.
Supply chain partners, all of which are unsecured creditors, have so far made claims of £38.6m.
The renewed optimism comes after FRP found that a related firm – Inland Homes 2013 Ltd – owed Inland Homes Plc around £113m when they both went into administration.
“While there have been no funds received to date, based on the wider group realisations, realisations [to unsecured creditors] are anticipated but the timing and quantum is not yet known,” they said.
Inland Homes Plc had been due to go into dissolution as there was no prospect of the unsecured creditors receiving funds. However, FRP has revised its approach and Inland Homes has now entered a company voluntary liquidation to “enable a distribution to unsecured creditors”.
Inland Homes’ creditors approved the change last month.
It is also unclear whether a £2.3m claim by HMRC has any relevance to the administration process for Inland Homes Plc, FRP said.
Though the claim is in, HMRC “has not submitted a breakdown”, so the money could also be owed by six other firms in Inland Homes Plc’s VAT Group, FRP said.
Those are: Chapel Riverside Developments Ltd, Inland (STB) Ltd, Inland Homes (Essex) Ltd, Inland Homes 2013 Ltd, Inland Ltd, and Wilton Park Developments Ltd. Those firms are all in administration too.
FRP said there “are sufficient funds available to repay” HMRC, if any of the claim relates to Inland Homes Plc.
HMRC is a secondary preferential creditor for around £2.2m of its claim, meaning it would be prioritised above the unsecured creditors. The rest of HMRC’s claim will be as an unsecured creditor.
AIM-listed Inland Homes called in administrators in October 2023, after uncertainty related to regulatory compliance meant it could not publish audited accounts for the past two financial years.
Construction subsequently stopped on a £90m Patchworks high-rise scheme in Walthamstow. Work had started there in June 2021, and two of the six blocks were completed in mid-2023. Housebuilder Vistry restarted the scheme in January this year.
Inland Homes’ most recent accounts, covering the year ending 30 September 2021, showed turnover of £181.7m with a pre-tax profit of £13.2m, delivering a margin of 7.3 per cent.
The firm employed a monthly average of 143 staff during the year.
Read More
Joshua Stein