The firm ran into difficulties when its biggest customer failed to pay and recognise contract works
A Hull construction specialist which was put into administration amid a dispute with its biggest customer collapsed owing an estimated £4.7m to more than 200 creditors, new documents show.
Tucker Mechanical & Electrical Building Services – which first launched in 1973 as Neville Tucker Heating Ltd – had carried out projects across the UK from its head office in Sutton Fields Industrial Estate in Hull, as well as bases on Tyneside and in the Midlands.
However, it ran into difficulties during a dispute with its biggest customer which failed to make payments – a blow which then “crippled” its finances, ultimately triggering the chain of events leading to its closure. We told in October how all 60-plus staff were lost at the company, having been made redundant when Tucker M&E ceased trading ahead of administrators being appointed.
A report by the administrators at insolvency experts Exigen Group outlines the chain of events leading up to its collapse. And it also reveals that the business and assets has been sold for £55,000 to Mr Snape of NMS – Nexgen MEP Solutions Limited.
Mr Snape is understood to be Tucker M&E’s former managing director and he was the sole person to make an offer for the firm. The company’s business and assets being sold include its office furniture and equipment, plant and machinery, stock, motor vehicles, IP and goodwill.
The update from the administrators tells how the Rotherham Road company had “maintained its stature” within the M&E industry despite rising material and labour costs, pressure on margins and late payments. Turnover had grown over the last three years, from £11m in 2022 to £25m in 2024, and a loss three years ago of £1.4m had been converted to profit of £239,654 in most recent accounts.
Over the past few years, however, directors sought to bring down costs and boost profit margins, through reducing headcount by not replacing departing staff and instead using subcontractors. Trouble then arose when its biggest client – accounting for 70% of its turnover – “failed to pay and recognise contract works and variations done on DofE projects, creating cashflow issues which crippled the company financially.”
The directors tried “reasonable negotiations” with early warning notices and five day chase letters – and the cashflow crunch led to Tucker then being chased by its own creditors. It was issued with a Winding Up Order from one creditor, and received threats of a CCJ and seven day chase letters “from numerous creditors”.
A statement of the firm’s finances from the directors has yet to be filed. However, the insolvency experts estimate that the firm has a deficiency of £4.116m, with trade creditors owed £4.4m – less than the £4.766m in claims the creditors have submitted – and subcontractors owed £30,675. It’s not yet known how much the redundant employees are owed.
The report includes nine pages listing 221 creditors – but the administrators say there is unlikely to be any funds available for them. The administrators add: “The joint administrators think that the company has insufficient property to enable a distribution to be made to unsecured creditors.”
Over the years the firm had been involved in high profile projects around the UK, including major schemes in the region at Hull Royal Infirmary, for the Humberside Fire & Police operations building at Melton and for the Siemens Gamesa blade factory expansion in Hull.
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