Lloyds likely to lose out on £400,000 debt at bust North Sea firm, says KPMG

The invoice finance arm of Lloyds Banking Group is set to lose out on the more than £400,000 it is due from stricken Dundee-based offshore container manufacturer Pressurefab, according to administrators KPMG.

Documents filed at Companies House by KPMG show Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance was due £427,000 from the business when joint administrators Tony Friar and Blair Nimmo were appointed joint administrators last July.

The pair have since incurred time costs of nearly £161,000 and in their latest progress report it is suggested that LBCF is unlikely to recover the debt in full.

Friar and Nimmo’s report for the period July 18 to January 27 states: “LBCF were owed approximately £427,000 by the Company, with trade debtor invoices totalling £327,000 having been assigned to LBCF. It is expected that LBCF will not recover its debt from the assigned debt books. We do not expect that LBCF will receive a recovery from either of the companies which provided a cross guarantee. Interest and costs continue to accrue on LBCF’s debt.”

PressureFab, which designed and manufactured specialist rig topside and subsea equipment at its 250,000 square foot site on the A90, was built by the award-winning entrepreneur Hermann Twickler into a £6 million turnover business with 90 staff after he formed it with his own cash in 2009.

However, it became a high-profile victim of the oil and gas downturn last July when German-born Twickler was forced to call in the administrators after a sharp fall in revenues and insurmountable cash flow difficulties.

When KPMG took over, forty engineering staff were immediately made redundant.

“LBCF are continuing to pursue the outstanding balances on the ledger, with our assistance where appropriate,” the administrators added. “We do not anticipate that LBCF will recover their indebtedness in full, and as such, there will be no surplus available from the secured debtor balances for the creditors.”

The administrators say they have incurred time costs of £161,607.75 since their appointment.

They estimate that their time costs will increase, however, they said that “it is still our intention to draw fees in the region of £144,907.50, in line with the estimated contained in our original proposals.”

The administration is due to end on July 27, but Mr Nimmo and Mr Friar anticipate seeking the period to be extended.