KPMG spent as much as it recovered in Bridge administration

KPMG ADMINISTRATORS spent more than they managed to recover in Bridge Business Recovery's collapse, according to a creditor report seen by Accountancy Age.

Samantha Bewick and Colin Haig, partners at KPMG, were appointed joint administrators to the insolvency firm in July last year.

According to the Bridge creditor report the administrators managed to realise more than £780,000 for creditors. However, the duo also managed to spend more than £800,000 retrieving those funds.

Included in their expenses was £175 for a meeting room, £150,169 for legal costs and more than £13,000 for telephone, telex and faxes.

However, £531,000 was transferred to the liquidators Samantha Bewick and John Standish, who were appointed on 21 December.

Unsecured creditors are owed about £4.1m including £1.3m to HM Revenue & Customs.

The administrators' fees, which are not included in the expenses, were about £700,000.

Bewick and Standish as liquidators will investigate if there are any other avenues to recover funds including pursuing professional indemnity insurance claims.

Sources close to the case said it was unlikely unsecured creditors will receive any returns.

A statement from KPMG said: "Returns to unsecured creditors will depend on the outcome of the liquidators' investigations and the returns from the work in progress."