Dozens of creditors left out of pocket with the collapse of a City firm are still waiting for a payout more than three years after the business went into administration.

A progress report by liquidators handling the affairs of Blue Co London LLP (formerly Ince & Co LLP) has revealed that 44 claims have been received from unsecured creditors, worth a total of £41.7m.

This group was previously told that a dividend would be paid by 20 July 2021, but the report states this was not possible because of outstanding queries over the value of 'substantial' claims received by the joint liquidators. Those handling the liquidation say they will ‘shortly’ be able to issue a further notice of intended dividend.

Maritime specialist Ince & Co LLP went into administration at the end of 2018 and was immediately acquired by listed firm Gordon Dadds. This firm subsequently rebranded its legal business The Ince Group from May 2019.

Joint liquidators from insolvency specialist Quantuma were appointed in December 2020, having previously acted as joint administrators.

The report notes that in total, the joint administrators drew £561,423 in fees and expenses, while the joint liquidators have so far drawn time costs coming to £209,723.

It had been estimated that legal fees for the liquidation period would come to £5,000, but this figure has ballooned to almost £340,000 because of proceedings issued in France and the substantive costs incurred arriving at settlements with former Ince partners regarding their overdrawn loan accounts. Solicitor fees of around £315,000 have been agreed with Pinsent Masons, with a further £23,375 spent on counsel fees.

All of which continues to eat into the pot available to creditors from the remnants of the Ince & Co business. The final administrators’ report from December 2020 stated that funds of £2.8m were held at the time, with the remaining debtor ledger coming to £409,190.

As previously reported, a recoveries agreement was entered into with Ince Gordon Dadds whereby it undertook to manage the billing and recovery of work in progress. Under this agreement, the administration could recover 40% of any profits from the WIP, along with 75% of paid disbursement recoveries.

 

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