Another bad trading year for local house builder sparks debate over just how long the firm can now last racking up such significant losses….
Tuesday 20th December 2022 07:21am
A Local Housebuilding firm that’s consistently made financial losses since it was bought by a private housing corporation has sparked a debate over how long the business is likely to survive, after financial reports reveal the firm made another £2.0 Million Pound Loss for the most recent financial year….
Gus Robinson Developments Ltd was bought out by the once Teesside based private landlord Thirteen Housing Group, however since its purchase in 2018, the company has consistently racked up significant financial losses plunging the once local firm into millions of pounds in the red, with the company now banned from taking on any further contracts by the board of its parent company over fears the firm could collapse under the weight of its own debts.
Despite claims of another difficult trading year Gus Robinson Developments reportedly managed to increase its annual turnover by around 6%, taking its total turnover to £15.0 Million Pounds, it also claimed the firm managed to finalise four of its outstanding housing projects with a further four sites in progress, however losses at the embattled housing developer has left many questioning just how a firm that was generating modest profits through its previous directorship has now managed to suffer such a precarious financial outlook, with the company failing to make a single penny worth of profit since its parent company Thirteen Housing Group Ltd bought out the company from its previous owners back in 2018.
Shareholder deficits at the failing housebuilder also are also said to be delivering upon "grim news" following claims shareholder deficits at the corporation has now increased to £6.4 million pounds, just over THREE TIMES what the company reported as losses for the latest financial year reported.
In 2021, a meeting with Thirteen Board of directors led to significant bans being placed on the housebuilding corporation after racking up losses that left creditors for the failing firm starting to worry about being paid for building materials..
It led to Thirteens Directors stopping Gus Robinson Developments from taking on any further new housing projects outside of its parent companies own portfolio, severely restricting the businesses ability to operate.
In a bid to turn the company around, Thirteen's former CEO Ian Wardle tried to reinvigorate the business through a number of initiatives, one being the dissolution of the companies head offices in Hartlepool’s West View Road, merging the business into Thirteens complicated tax avoidance business structure in an attempt to absorb the firms mounting debts.
However the moves proved to be fruitless, with Mr Wardle having to forego his performance related pay bonus, when the company for the next year incurred losses far greater than the previous year, with Thirteens board of directors then left having to sign a declaration of solvency against the company effectively underwriting Gus Robinson Developments huge debts to satisfy creditors who came knocking at the door worried they weren’t going to get paid following fears a number of building suppliers were preparing to stop doing business with the house building firm over fears of not being paid for supplies.
Despite the huge on-going issues with the embattled firm, bosses for Thirteen remarkably claim that they still have “full support” that Gus Robinson Developments will continue to trade & weather the financial storm that they believe has been the contributing factor for the firm incurring huge losses.
But as Thirteen as a private housing provider continues to move quickly out of Teesside into other local council areas, its claimed that the business currently being propped up by a housing providers huge turnovers of funds & protected by its controversial “charitable status”, Thirteen is seemingly in no rush to make a profit out of Gus Robinsons because for the moment, shouldering a heavy loss making company in the current climate allows its parent company Thirteen to shy away from hundreds of thousands of pounds every single year that would have been due in UK Corporation Taxes.
Something Thirteen has been reluctant to pay ever since it morphed from a once humble so called "charitable" housing corporation meant for local housing, to a multinational housing provider with outreach now into at least four other local council areas across the country.…
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