Home England has got back £128,000 following the collapse of Ilke Homes, the liquidator has revealed.
The latest progress report, filed by the modular homebuilder’s liquidator at AlixPartners on 11 November, revealed the agency is still owed £68.8m. In February, a liquidator’s update forecast Homes England was in line to recover £4.3m.
The latest update also confirmed that, as a secured creditor, Homes England is the only organisation likely to see any money back.
Unsecured creditors are still owed £249.3m and there are no funds or assets left to cover this.
Homes England entered into a facilities agreement with Ilke in 2021 that fixed charges to the firm’s assets. This related to plant equipment, including a high-speed assembly line.
This was sold at auction in August along with other assets, raising £908,000.
The statement by liquidator Catherine Williamson said: “The anticipated return to Homes England from the company comprises solely of realisations from plant and machinery.
“The liquidators do not anticipate that any funds will become available to enable any distributions to be made to the preferential or unsecured creditors.”
At the time of the auction in August, the firm’s factory was broken into and equipment was stolen, which resulted in a £161,000 insurance payout.
An order for more production equipment was also halted, recovering £452,000.
The sale of build manuals and intellectual property raised £125,000.
The extent of the company’s liabilities was also revealed in the update. At the time the liquidators were appointed in June last year, the firm had just £23,051 in the bank.
AlixPartners was brought in at the request of the company’s directors in June last year after failing to find a buyer for the firm.
The announcement included the “immediate closure” of the firm’s factory in North Yorkshire, with an end to “all site activities”. Around 1,000 jobs were lost.
The closure left projects unfinished. At one site, the Meadow Grange development in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, homes that were not finished have been part-demolished.
Ilke was owned by TDR Capital, Sun Capital and Fortress Investment Group. Ilke reported a pre-tax loss of £34m from a turnover of £12.7m in its last accounts, for the year to 31 March 2021.
Ilke is not the only modular specialist to experience problems recently. In October TopHat announced it will lay off staff and wind down its operations.
CN revealed last week (8 November) that equipment for modular home manufacture was being auctioned off. It appears to have been owned by TopHat.
