More than 160 jobs have been saved following the collapse of a North East-based smart meter provider.
The business and assets of Washington-based Bespoke Metering Solutions has been sold to Southampton-based Utilita Field Services Limited and Killingworth-based Next Generation Utilities Limited - the latter of which linked to Bespoke via its owner and director. Bespoke, which had its main base in Washington, a head office in Gateshead and a workforce in the field, encountered problems when a £6m tax liability was uncovered alongside several years of losses, when the firm was thought to have been profitable.
Administrators from FRP Advisory were called in to the business - which carried out gas and electric meter installations in homes across England and Scotland - after its owner director discovered inaccuracies in the way VAT had been accounted for by a finance director who was described as being external to the company and a non-statutory director.
Checks were carried out by a team of third party accountants brought in after the finance director stopped attending the firm without an official resignation - a move that had followed a VAT inspection request from HMRC. They found an estimated £6m owed to the tax authority, which, when applied to Bespoke’s accounts, meant the £10m turnover business had actually incurred net losses of hundreds of thousands for several years.
Subsequent sales were agreed with Utilita Field Services and Next Generation Utilities - worth £50,000 and £24,000 respectively. Utilita also made a payment of nearly £880,000 for outstanding debts. Documents show Bespoke had grown quickly since its inception in 2017, driven by winning large residential meter installation contracts with national energy suppliers who in turn had been driven by regulatory targets from Ofgem to increase the take-up of smart meters in homes.
Three employees were made redundant, and the administrators are supporting those workers with claims to the Redundancy Payments Service.
Allan Kelly, restructuring advisory partner at FRP and joint administrator of Bespoke Metering Solutions Ltd, said: “Bespoke Metering Solutions has grown rapidly over the last few years as a result of regulatory targets for the installation of smart meters but recently encountered cash flow difficulties. The company has a strong underlying business with well-established customer relationships, and we are pleased to have secured a positive outcome for the company and its many employees.”
HMRC and secondary preferential creditors are expected to receive a dividend as part of the administration process.
