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Sept 2023
Collapsed Flaxby firm Ilke Homes owed £320m to 300 creditors
Ilke Homes, the modular house manufacturer based at Flaxby, collapsed owing nearly £320 million to more than 300 creditors.
The figures are revealed in a statement of affairs compiled by the administrators and published on the Companies House website yesterday.
The document said most of the debt – £227 million – is owed to “intercompany creditors”, which ultimately means the firm's investors: Fortress Investment Group, Sun Capital Partners and TDR Capital, among others.
Homes England, the government agency that funds new affordable housing, is also owed more than £68 million, and HMRC is owed more than £2 million.
But much of the rest is owed to scores of small and medium-sized suppliers, mostly from the north of England, but some from as far afield as Glasgow, Kent and even Germany. Most appear unlikely to receive any repayment from Ilke’s assets.
The debts range from £6 to a Dewsbury hardware company to £1.8 million to a Warrington wall insulation firm.
Sixteen local creditors include Ripon plumbing supplies business Wolseley (£14,595), Thirsk-based steel supplier Tomrods (£13,871) and Knaresborough security firm K9 Patrol (£10,697).
A total of £724,614 is owed to 1,061 employees in the form of holiday pay and pension arrears – an average debt of £683 per person.
Ilke Homes, which was based close to junction 47 of the A1(M), went into administration in June, causing all 1,100 of its employees to lose their jobs.
Although it had a strong pipeline of more than 3,000 homes on order, the administrators, Clare Kennedy, Catherine Williamson and Deborah King of global consultant AlixPartners, said the firm had been hit by “unprecedented inflation and a lack of land supply linked to planning processes”, adding that “the business has not been able to secure the further investment needed to take it forward”.
The administrators were approached for comment about the newly-released statement of affairs, but have not yet responded.
Read more:
- 600 Ilke Homes staff join legal action over job losses
- Thieves steal 'large amount' of equipment from Ilke Homes' factory
- Council pledges 'comprehensive support' to former Ilke Homes staff
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