Squibb Group, one of the UK’s biggest demolition companies, has applied for a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) in an attempt to keep creditors at bay.
The company has appointed administration specialist Begbies Traynor as it works to survive what is being described as a “cash-flow crisis”.
DemolitionNews spoke to one of the company’s creditors this morning. They are scheduled to receive full details of the CVA today but suggestions are that creditors will be offered 60p in the pound. A creditor’s meeting is scheduled for 9 November.
Squibb was among 10 NFDC member companies found guilty of price-fixing and bid-rigging earlier this year although the company is appealing the £2.0 million fine levied against it.
However, even though a £2.0 million fine is a bitter pill to swallow for a company with a turnover of around £33 million last year, it is not believed that the CMA fine is responsible for the company’s current predicament.
Indeed, rumours surrounding the firm’s liquidity were circulating long before the CMA handed down the fines in March this year.
Although the company could yet be pulled back from the brink, one industry pundit described the current situation as “potentially the biggest bankruptcy in British demolition history”.
Squibb Group is one of the best-known names in the UK demolition business and can trace its history back 75 years and founder Harry Squibb who started the H Squibb and Son company based out of Stepney in East London.
That son was Leslie Squibb senior who joined the company in 1969 and who was chairman until his passing in 2020.
However, he did survive long enough to see the opening of the company’s state-of-the-art headquarters at Stanford-le-Hope back in 2018.
