Buckingham Group have ceased trading and filed a notice to appoint administrators
Buckingham Group is now seeking to “protect jobs and preserve as much of the business as possible” as it faces going into administration.
The Buckingham-based construction company, which is owned by its 600-strong workforce, has filed a notice of intent to appoint administrators. This gives it ten days to explore further sale options- and keep creditors temporarily at bay.
Liverpool FC were confident that Anfield’s expansion will continue
Buckingham was contracted on the 7,000 seat expansion to Liverpool FC to complete in October 2023, although it was already over-schedule and over budget.
The club confirmed that Buckingham’s troubles would not affect the phased opening of the lower tier for this weekend’s match against Bournemouth and added: “We will work with Buckingham Group on the planned phased opening of the remainder of the new stand and will continue to keep supporters updated on arrangements for future games.”
In a statement yesterday (17 August 2023), Buckingham Group said on the potential administration filing:
“It is with immeasurable regret that the Buckingham Board has to announce that rapidly escalating contract losses and a sharp reduction in liquidity, together mean the Company is unable to continue trading at this current time.
“We know that this will come as a shock to all our valued stakeholders.”
The firm said significant losses on stadium contracts had left them in this position
“Very strong delivery and commercial performance across most of the business has been outweighed by deep losses and interim cash deficits incurred on the three major Stadium and Arena contracts, and a substantial earthworks contract in Coventry.
“This situation on these four long term major projects developed through a combination of unexpected impacts such as the extreme inflation linked to the Ukraine conflict and other challenges in the Sports and Leisure division.
“Over several months and right up to this week, the Board has worked with specialist advisors to seek to bring substantial new investment into the business that would have enabled the Company to continue trading as a going concern without interruption. However, this initiative has ultimately met without success.
“As a result of the recent challenges, the board has filed a Notice of Intention to appoint Administrators to protect the business whilst we explore a sale of all or part of the business in a very short period (days/weeks).
“We will be liaising with clients and interested parties to optimise any solution and secure the best outcome for creditors.
“We emphasise the Company is currently not in Administration. Our main aim at present is to seek to protect jobs, and to preserve as much of the business as possible.”
