Administrators dealing with the collapse of Dorset contractor Acheson Construction suspended an auction of its plant and machinery after an unnamed creditor “unlawfully took possession” of one of the firm’s seven telehandlers.
The £53m-turnover Acheson went under in February, blaming rising costs and a contract dispute for its demise.
Administrators from Grant Thornton this week revealed the complications it had faced in the process of retrieving funds from the sale of plant and machinery owned by the firm.
“The retrieval of the telehandlers posed challenges, with one of the creditors unlawfully taking possession of one of the telehandlers,” they said in an 18 April report.
“However, this has since been successfully recovered, and all plant, machinery and vehicles are now in the process of being auctioned.”
The administrators said that the seven telehandlers and accessories had a book value of £215,000 and an estimated realisable value of £208,000.
Forty of Acheson’s 48 employees were made immediately redundant when the firm collapsed.
The remaining eight staff were let go by 21 March, the administrators said.
Grant Thornton said the firm owed around £8.5m to 536 supply chain partners when it went under. So far, it has received £5.2m worth of claims.
It expects that the supply chain will receive around £1.1m worth of dividends after Acheson’s assets have been sold.
Grant Thornton’s statement of affairs and statement of proposals also revealed further details of Acheson’s collapse.
“The company had experienced difficult trading conditions in recent years, driven by increased costs on fixed-price long-term legacy projects, as well as experiencing delays in the commencement of projects,” it said.
Acheson did not publish accounts for the year ending 31 December 2024, but following discussions with the firm’s directors, Grant Thornton said the year was a “loss-making period”.
“The company had forecast a cash shortfall created by the above increased costs and project delays, along with an ongoing claim against a client under a construction contract,” it added.
In its latest filed accounts, for the year ending 29 December 2023, Acheson posted a turnover of £53.6m, up from £48.3m in the previous year.
In 2023, it returned a pre-tax profit of £45,996, marking an improvement on the £477,276 loss incurred in 2022.
Repeat clients for the firm included care-home operator Barchester Healthcare.
Acheson Construction had also landed places on frameworks for Aster Group and Sovereign Network Group during the period covered by its last results.