Collapsed freight forwarder Anglo Overseas had a deficiency of almost £30m when it went into administration in January, documents filed at Companies House reveal.
The report from administrator Vantis Business Recovery Services reveals trade creditors, for the most part haulage subcontractors, are owed £9.3m with the company's pension fund £11.5m in the red; non-preferential creditors total £30.7m and the total deficiency was £27.1m.
Although with some creditors reporting sums higher than those stated, there are concerns this figure may rise.
Southampton haulier Boyes Conning is one creditor. MD Simon Webb says: "It was always a pain to get money out of, so we had no warning."
Scottish firm Burns Express is also out of pocket. MD Derek Burns says: "It's a sorry state of affairs. We supported it for years and we were caught cold when it happened.We are strong enough to survive but it's put a few smaller firms out of business."
One company to have its debt repaid almost in full, however, is Anglo's sister firm Dornack International. The report reveals that on 14 January Dornack reduced lender GE's exposure to Anglo by repaying the outstanding loan of £1.7m in exchange for a mortgage debenture, incorporating fixed and floating charges over Anglo's assets.
Two days later, Anglo filed for administration.
Although Dornack would have been at the front of the queue for any dividend, the agreement between Anglo and Dornack allowed the latter to levy interest on the sum, so the longer the debt remained unpaid the larger it got. As a result, the administrator has paid Dornack £1.57m.
Parent company Ziegler UK has also taken over the running of six former Anglo depots, although it is still in talks with Vantis to formalise the sale and the figure involved. Anglo owed £5.97m to other companies in the Ziegler Group. Anglo had been suffering from "difficult trading conditions and losses" since 2004, says the report.
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