After the shock announcement on Saturday of Scoot Ferries going bust, OnTheWight has been trying to sort through the rumours and stand-up the facts.
As part of our research, we were able to speak at length with David Meany of Ashtons Business Recovery Ltd, who is the Business Recovery and Insolvency Practitioner instructed to assist Scoot. He’s also the Nominated Liquidator.
Timeline
Scoot Ferries contacted the Receiver a little before midday on Saturday.
The staff were called into a meeting on the Isle of Wight at 2pm where they were told of the situation.
The director, Zoe Ombler, met with the Receiver at 6pm in Southampton.
Not a CVA as initially claimed
The company issued a press release stating that they were “applying for a Company Voluntary Arrangement with immediate effect”.
This wasn’t the correct terminology and the Receiver hadn’t see this text prior to it going out.
In fact, the company today entered Creditors’ voluntary liquidation, instigated by the shareholders. This means the company has stopped trading and will be liquidated (‘wound up’) in three weeks time.
32 redundancies today
Scoot’s 32 staff were told they were being made redundant at a meeting at 10am this morning.
Our thoughts are with those who have lost their jobs, especially as it’s so close to Christmas.
Yarmouth Harbour seized a boat
As correctly called by an OnTheWight commenter, Yarmouth Harbour seized the Yarmouth – Lymington Scoot boat for non-payment of berthing fees and fuel.
The amount owed is around £10,000.
Amount owed so far
As the process in only two days in, all of the amounts owed aren’t yet known.
However, the total so far for money owed is ~£120,000.
If the boat charter contract is included, this amount raises to £246,000.
(Scoot had secured a charter payment holiday from the supplier of the boats, which gave a payment holiday until January 2016. The company had signed a five year contract to charter the boats.)
What happens next
The Receiver has a three week window to find a buyer for the 1) the assets 2) the business.
A meeting will be held on the 14th January 2016 where the business will be placed in Liquidation.
David Meany is already in discussions with two or three interested parties. More may contact him.
Large monthly outgoings
The outgoings of the business were considerable.
Spend on fuel was £50,000/month. Staff costs were also £50,000/month
The charter charges for the three boats were ~£47,000/month. £20k pm for each of the two larger vessels and £7k pm for the smaller vessel.
Most of the marketing for the business was done via social media. The marketing budget for the business was £8,500/month.
Investment
Private individuals did invest in the business.
£50,000 went in initially. This was followed by a further £85,000. A final investment of £25,000 wasn’t made.
Income during Cowes week was considerable.
Article edits
22.Dec.15 – Revised name of administrator’s business. 6pm meeting was with director Zoe Ombler not shareholders. Charter charges for large boats is £20k/month/each, therefore three boats £47k/month, not £27k/month. Number of shareholders have increased since 23.Sept.2015 Annual Return.
Image: bartfields under CC BY 2.0
