A PITTANCE
DOCUMENTS REVEAL THAT OUT OF £15M CLAIMS MADE BY CREDITORS OF ALAN HARDY’S LIQUIDATED PARAGON INTERIORS COMPANY, ONLY £701K IS AVAILABLE – LESS THAN 5P FOR EVERY £1 OWED
CREDITORS of Alan Hardy’s failed fit-out firm Paragon Interiors are set to receive a tiny fraction of the money they are owed, new documents reveal.
More than £15m was claimed by creditors following the collapse of the former Notts County Football Club owner’s company in 2019.
Administrators Leonard Curtis were called in to Paragon Interiors in February of that year as it came to light that contractors and staff had not been paid, with the later loss of 90 jobs.
A report into the company later found it owed more than £13.5 million when it collapsed and claims from creditors rose to £15.1 million.
But liquidators, subsequently appointed in February 2020, have revealed their balance in hand is just £701,422 to divide among creditors.
Sandra Frisby, associate professor and reader in company and commercial law at the University of Nottingham, told the Post it works out that creditors will receive around 4.67p to the pound.
So if a former employee claims £100 they are owed from the failed company, on average they will get back roughly £4.67 – if all claims are settled.
A report on the liquidators’ statement of receipts and payments issued on Thursday shows that employees at the doomed company have claimed £1,006,653. £12m was also claimed by trade and expense creditors, £1.18m from HMRC and £1.26m for an unnamed “connected creditor”. Matters still to be dealt with before the conclusion of the liquidation include the formal agreement of creditors’ claims, a first and final distribution of the “preferential creditors”, a first and final distribution to the unsecured creditors and the unpaid remuneration and expenses will need to be provided.
The full scale of Paragon’s issues came to light in October 2019.
In addition to the money the company owed, it was also owed £13.8m by firms linked to Paragon Interiors.
This included £1.49m owed by Notts County and £7.29 million by parent company Paragon Leisure Group – money which was used to buy the Meadow Lane club in 2017. This was eventually settled for £1.2m.
At the date of administration, there were 646 unsecured creditors with estimated claims totalling £13,558,181 which have since risen to £15.1m.
Sandra Frisby, said Paragon’s troubles were “at least in part attributable to its funds being used to facilitate the acquisition of the Notts County shares”.
“646 creditor claims is not a particularly small number for a company of this size. It can involve everyone who ever dealt with the company so from traders to staff to window cleaners, for example.”
Liquidation is the process of bringing a business to an end and distributing its assets to claimants.
It is an event that usually occurs when a company is insolvent, meaning it cannot pay its obligations when they are due.
As company operations end, the remaining assets are used to pay creditors and shareholders, based on the priority of their claims.
The Post attempted to contact Mr Hardy for comment on the report but had not received a response by the time this edition went to press.