More Woe for the Construction Sector as another Large Company Fails

In the wake of the Geoffrey Osborne Limited administration, another high turnover construction company has entered into insolvency. Making April a torrid start to the new financial year.

Everest 2020 Limited entered into insolvency on 29^th April 2024, bringing there nearly 60 year history to an end. ReSolve Advisory Limited have been appointed to oversee the insolvency amongst hopes that part of the business will attract a buyer.

Everest were a popular manufacturer and supplier off energy efficient windows, doors and conservatories but had also branched out into garage doors, rooflines and driveways. The company’s last set of filed accounts reported a turnover of £51.1 million. However, these accounts were submitted in May 2022 and we would have expected the company to have filed their most recent results in May 2023.

Withholding accounts is seen as a key sign of distress as it is generally only done when a company is hesitant to publish poor results. In the context of Everest’s failure, it seems that this would be the case.

This is a fresh blow to an ailing construction industry that has seen historic challenges to the industry compounded by a stuttering post-COVID economy. Supply problems caused by Brexit have been made worse by the continued issues to supply chains, inflation and sky rocketing prices seen in recent years.

Everest faced the added problem of these effects on the public. The cost of living crisis, initially spurred on by energy bill shock has been elongated by inflation’s effects on basic necessities, especially food, and interest rate rises. Higher interest rates are likely to have had an especially detrimental impact on the company as the loans needed to undertake major home improvement problems became increasingly inaccessible to the public whilst mortgage costs skyrocketed.

Higher costs, plummeting demand and the industry’s history of operating on low margins seems to have all contributed to the fall of Everest.

Inevitably, when a large company fails it leaves behind a large amount of creditors who must now struggle to absorb the bad debt. This is often too much for them to handle and they eventually become insolvent themselves. In fact, a company that suffers a bad debt is itself three times more likely to become insolvent in the following twelve months than one who has not.

Red Flag Alert identified this failure over two months in advance and gave our clients warning that Everest was in severe financial distress and had become a significant credit risk.

Our direct data feed to the UK courts detected that a winding up petition (WUP) had been submitted against the company on 14^th February. This speaks of serious financial distress at the company and an inability to meet their debts. Whilst this petition was later withdrawn, which is usually because the company managed to raise the finds to pay the creditor, WUPs do not come out of nowhere and are expensive both in time and money for creditors to pursue. This means that even if a petition is withdrawn it is still one of the best warning signs of an imminent insolvency.

Most other providers only receive their WUP data from the gazettes, where it is advertised just seven days before a court hearing. Meaning that you will not have enough time to attempt to recoup your debt and months of not knowing that they are a credit risk.

Red Flag Alert knows that to be effective, data must me current and actionable. This ethos has shaped the way we approach data and we constantly push the boundaries of how quickly data can be brought to our customers and how accurately we can analyse company financial health.

Our platform not only includes live data feeds, direct court data feeds and UK first CCJ information but also gives you access to the UK’s most accurate insolvency score, with an unprecedented accuracy rate of 92%.