One of Canterbury’s oldest firms went under owing almost £3 million to more than 250 companies, KentOnline can reveal.

Sixty employees were suddenly axed by contractor Coombs when it called in administrators towards the end of last year.

Having struggled to turn a profit for the previous three years, the Wincheap firm had been searching for outside investment.

But the company went under after two deals fell through in October - leaving dozens of businesses it had been working with out of pocket.

Among them is architect Clague Canterbury in Burgate, which is yet to receive the almost £24,000 it is due from Coombs.

Partner Karl Elliott told KentOnline: “Our suspicion is if we get a penny in the pound, we’d have done well - but in reality, I suspect we’ll get nothing.

“The business was cash-strapped and most of the contracts they were working with have been reassigned too, so there’s no hope of clawing anything back from those contracts - and the first in line will be the taxman.

“The rest of us will be down the pecking order. We’ve been in similar situations before and we know we’re going to end up with nothing.

“It leaves a bitter taste, but we’ll get over it.

“When we heard the rumblings, we should have ceased all work, but at the time they were good friends of the business and we chose to run the risk.”

Newly published papers on Companies House show by the time Coombs collapsed it owed £2.9 million to 276 organisations across the country.

And across Kent, 104 were owed more than £1,000 by the time of its demise.

Amdell Building Services in Deal was the worst-hit firm, as it was still waiting for a payment of £186,000 from the doomed business.

Meanwhile, HMRC was also £372,000 down.

Gaisford Construction Services in Whitstable Road had a £66,000 hole in its accounts following Coombs’ demise.

Its owner, Ian Gaisford, believes he “will get very little” of the money he is due, having been in similar situations in the past.

Dover Trussed Roof Company’s general manager, Chris Shelton, also suspects his firm, the offices for which are on the outskirts of Canterbury, will not receive the money it is owed.

“Historically, you don’t often get a lot back on anything like this,” the businessman explained.

“I know in these situations it all depends on what assets are left when the administrators have done their bit.

“Luckily, we’re solid enough and it won’t break us at all - but that’s £30,000 out of our pocket. Add that to the difficult year with the coronavirus, it doesn’t help anything.

“Others are in a similar boat and for the smaller companies, it’s probably hit them even worse.”

Brighton-based administrators White Maund estimates that the likely recovery for all of the company’s creditors “may be 23p in the pound in the worst case, and 27p in the pound in the best case”.

Before the business folded, Coombs had been working on three projects in conjunction with local authorities and housing associations.

Among them is Canterbury City Council’s 16-home Kingsmead Field scheme - which Dover Trussed Roof Company supplied building materials for last autumn.

“Our bills were outstanding and we were chasing Coombs for money,” Mr Shelton added.

“But the next we heard was they were in administration.

“I was annoyed because it’s now almost impossible to get all of that money back.

“I don’t know the full circumstances, but a lot of these companies know they’re in trouble before they actually admit it.

‘Firm’s survival not achievable’

Papers published by White Maund reveal Coombs started to incur heavy losses from August 2019, which preceded forecasts showing its cash reserves would “diminish in the medium term”.

The housebuilder secured contracts worth £13 million last summer, but the administrators say it needed more money to fund the projects.

“While forecasts showed a deterioration in cash flow during September, the investment (deal for Coombs) was still progressing and was expected to complete in mid-September,” the documents say.

“The directors made contact with the private investors and provided them with a significant amount of information as the (deal) still seemed promising.

“On October 20, it was confirmed they were not prepared to proceed and the directors approached a second investor… (who) declined to proceed.”

White Maund believes the “survival of the existing company is not achievable” and, therefore, is planning to wind Coombs up by moving it into creditors’ voluntary liquidation.

The company was formed in 1971 by bricklayer Rodney Coombs, and grew into one of the city’s most reputable building contractors, employing as many as 70 people.

The firm was led by directors John Healey, Keith Jarrett and Stephen Ball when it went under.

Firm RJ Barwick purchased Coombs’ goodwill from the administrators, before launching a company under the same banner in St Dunstan’s Street.

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