Roofer's fall hits banks and taxman
Administrators attempt to recoup £1m for creditors and HMRC
Administrators are attempting to recoup more than a million pounds for banks
and HM Revenue & Customs following the collapse of the roofing firm that
worked on the award-winning Scottish Parliament.
Deloitte partner Lee Manning is acting as joint administrator for Coverite,
the company that has worked on contracts for both the Scottish Parliament and
Museum of Scotland. Its major debts include £850,000 owed to banks and over
£500,000 to HMRC.
Around one-quarter of its staff, amounting to 100 employees, have been made
redundant by the administrator, while the rest have moved to another firm,
Prater. Only two accounting staff remain.
Manning blamed a series of unprofitable contracts for the company’s problems.
‘They’re not inherently unprofitable, but their cash burden was too great,’
said Manning.
But he warned that he was unsure of recouping much of the debt. ‘I don’t know
if the banks will get any money back,’ he said.
The parliament had retained around £340,000 as part of its deal with Coverite
to cover costs of any problems with the roof.
The problems at Coverite add a new twist to the financial difficulties
associated with the Scottish Parliament, which opened three years late and, at
£431m, was ten times over budget. It won the Stirling prize for architecture in
2005.
Directors of Coverite, the Speroni family, put the company into
administration.