Employees of collapsed Midas owed more than £4.5m

Around 300 employees of collapsed contractor Midas are owed more than £4.5m, an update by administrator Teneo Financial Advisory has revealed.

In documents filed at Companies House, 239 employees of Midas Construction are owed £3.2m while a further 61 employees at parent Midas Group are out of pocket by £1.4m. It means each employee is owed an average of £15,333.

The update adds there is a £4m deficit in the Midas Group pension scheme while the report for Midas Construction shows it owes its parent a further £5m.

And the scale of the losses facing hundreds of unsecured suppliers of Midas Construction is laid bare with the amount owed, including the £5m to Midas Group and the £3.2m to employees, topping £51m. Several firms are owed north of £100,000.

But Teneo warned the amount available to unsecured creditors of Midas Construction currently stands at just £3.4m.

The report for Midas Group said unsecured creditors, including employees, are owed £7.3m with the amount available to this group currently standing at nil.

Exeter-based Midas sank into administration in February with administrators saying the firm, which was set up in 1976, suffering a “rapid deterioration in trade from November 2021 to January [this year] as the group was unable to pay subcontractors to complete ongoing works”.

In an earlier report, Teneo said Midas, which employed 365 people at the time of its failure, had a provisional turnover of £223m in the year to last October – down from the £259m it reported in its last 12 month reporting period for the year to April 2019.

It added: “The business was severely impacted by the pandemic during FY20 which resulted in periods of closure for the business and adjusted operating conditions upon re-opening.

“The group also faced inflationary pressures within its cost base, including higher labour and material costs.”

Its £34m turnover property arm Mi-Space was sold to Bell Group for a knockdown £230,000 in a pre-pack sale.