Blue Marble Holdings Limited (09881167): administration
- Status
- Administration ended
- Administration began
- 2021-10-19
- Administrators
- Edward Williams, Mark James Tobias Banfield
- Administrators' firm
- PwC
- Incorporated
- 2015-11-19
- Location
- Leeds
- Industry
- 35140 Trade of electricity
Why it went into administration
- Regulatory change or action
- HMRC / tax arrears
- Energy costs
- Property / lease costs
- Sustained trading losses
- Supply chain disruption
- Competition / price pressure
From the administrators' statement
BMHL bought forward energy contracts to fix the pricing of energy and power over different time periods for customers on both fixed and variable tariffs. The purpose of these agreements is to lock in the gross margin of a customer on a fixed tariff over the life of the contract or to provide a level of short term certainty for variable tariff customers. BMHL had entered into over 700 different forward contracts with BP across gas and power that spanned a period from October 2021 to September 2023.
As market prices move after a hedge has been placed, hedges are "marked to the current market price" on a daily basis for risk management purposes. In the case of BMHL, because the actual market price of power and gas has increased since the hedges were placed, the hedges have increased in value. Hence, to limit any downside risks for the creditors as a result of potential market volatility, the Administrators acted swiftly on the hedge unwinding process as described in further detail below. Consequently, BMHL has generated a profit upon termination/unwinding of the hedging instruments, with the proceeds to be paid by BP on the final settlement of the hedging contracts.
Supplemental contracts agreed prior to the commencement of the unwinding process
Administrators' statement of proposals (2021-12-20) · Companies House register