London fit-out contractor Miletrian has gone into administrative receivership after losing £2m on a single contract.
The company was placed in the hands of receiver Hayward Stoy on Monday.

David Gilbert, an accountant with Hayward Stoy, said that it was a shame the firm had gone under as it had an "excellent brand name".

He explained that Miletrian had run into difficulties after it suffered a £2m loss on an office block in central London for Artesian.

Gilbert said: "The problem Miletrian had was that it began to operate outside its non-core business of fit-out work – it wasn't really a builder."

Gilbert added that he would begin to sell on Miletrian's contracts.

He said: "The Miletrian brand is very strong, so when selling its remaining core contracts we will be looking to capitalise on the brand and realise some strong company assets."

A Miletrian insider said the firm had more than one problem contract, and that the weakness of its financial position had yet to emerge.

The insider said: "Miletrian has overstretched itself on a number of projects, and its situation comes as no surprise at all."

Last week, Building revealed that the firm had attributed most of its difficulties to a single contract.

In the financial report that accompanied its results for the year ending 31 December 2002, the firm conceded that its was in difficulties after recording a £3m loss. The report revealed that turnover had slipped £1.4m to £38.2m.

The report disclosed that three senior executives had left in the past year, including director Keith Dawes, brother of chief executive Michael Dawes.