Henry Boot has put its social housing arm, Starfish Commercial, into voluntary liquidation
In its interim for the six months ended 30 June 2020, Henry Boot revealed that Starfish Commercial was not performing in line with expectations.
The contractor acquired the social housing division last year, but it has now been impacted heavily by Covid-19.
In a statement, Henry Boot said: “Whilst we have been encouraged by recent increases in activity within our construction division, which is now at over 90% of pre-CV-19 levels, unfortunately, we have not seen the same level of recovery in Starfish.
“Furthermore, there is no visibility as to when it might reach a sustainable level.
“These factors have led us to make the difficult decision of placing Starfish into creditors’ voluntary liquidation.”
The company said the voluntary liquidation decision would have minimal impact on Henry Boot’s financial position.
It added: “A £0.2m goodwill impairment will occur in H2, which is additional to the £1.8m impairment already accounted for in H1.
“Affordable Housing is still a market of interest and we will continue to pursue our interest in this sector, but this will now be part of the overall services offered by our construction business.
“The group’s overall performance remains in line with management’s expectation, and we continue to be encouraged by the growing momentum within our operations.
“This enables us to remain focused on selectively investing in our three long-term markets: residential, industrial and logistics, and urban development.”
