The collapse of £35m-turnover contractor Harry Neal was partly prompted by bad debts, a liquidator’s report has revealed

A letter to creditors from UHY Hacker Young said the client behind a contract for a development near the Barbican in London, which Harry Neal won in 2006, was placed into liquidation in 2008, leaving it with a “substantial claim to recover”. A second unnamed client also failed to pay off all its debt.

It has emerged that an unnamed director of consultancy Wyse Power made an offer to buy the firm, but the offer was “insufficient to help resolve the financial difficulties”.