Charles Henshaw & Sons Limited (SC021330): administration
- Status
- Administration ended
- Administration began
- 2024-07-12
- Incorporated
- 1940-03-04
- Location
- Dundee
- Industry
- 43342 Glazing
Why it went into administration
- Sustained trading losses
- Funding withdrawn / unable to refinance
- Cash flow / liquidity pressure
- Creditor pressure / legal action
From the administrators' statement
The Company traded successfully for many years. Unfortunately, the Company had recently experienced financial pressures from additional costs in relation to certain legacy contracts and Significant main contractor delays on start dates for new projects leading to reduced margins, trading losses and cash flow pressures. The Company’s statutory accounts for the year ended 31 January 2023 showed a gross margin of only 1% and a trading loss of c£3.9 million. The Company had cash at Bank of £1.07 million as of 31 January 2024. The Company continued to experience delays on new projects and cash flow became increasingly challenging.
In May 2024, a short term forecast cashflow prepared by the Company highlighted that it was forecasting to breach its overdraft limit of £1.5m at the end of June 2024. At this point the Directors took steps to seek additional funding. The Directors also explored a sale of the heritable property to provide a sufficient injection of cash to enable the business to continue to trade.
On 12 June 2024 the Directors engaged my firm, Henderson Loggie LLP, to carry out contingency planning for an insolvency event. At this point the Directors had been unable to secure additional funding on acceptable terms but were continuing to pursue a sale of the property. An offer for the property was received from one of the two parties the Directors had been in discussions with, however, it was not at a level that would provide a sufficient cash injection to resolve the ongoing cashflow issues.
Administrators' statement of proposals (2024-09-05) · Companies House register