A PLUMBING merchant which went out of business owing more than £1.4million is to be dissolved, with no money available for creditors.

Rockett Plumbing and Heating Supplies in Moordown collapsed in May 2017 with the loss of 15 jobs.

Its Poole branch had already been closed, putting five people out of work, as the company tried to improve profitability.

The company was founded by Steve Rockett in 2012 and expanded with the opening of a kitchen and bathroom showroom a few doors from its original Wimborne Road premises.

But it made a £150,000 loss on contracts worth £900,000 to fit out 172 flats in Southampton. Its Poole branch also ran into difficulty when Mr Rockett was unable to supervise it closely.

Joint administrator Antony Batty said there were an estimated 166 non-preferential, unsecured creditors, with an estimated liability of £1.42m.

He wrote: “A dividend will not be declared to any class of creditors in the administration as the funds realised have been used to make payments to meet the expenses of the administration,”

An estimated £135,000 was owed to HMRC.

The company’s assets were sold to three third parties – including £3,000 for items in the kitchen showroom, £12,000 for all stock and displays in the other showroom and £1,600 for a Ford Transit Luton van.

HSBC Invoice Finance had a floating charge over the company’s assets and had so far recovered £57,408 from debts on the company’s books.

Mr Batty wrote: “The joint administrators have reviewed the list and believe that it is not in the creditors’ interest to pursue these debts any further due to lack of supporting documentation.”

The joint administrator said the value of his own time, based on 242 hours of work, was £79,761, although he only recovered around £4,500 towards those costs. 

He wrote: “As there are no assets available for a distribution to be made to unsecured creditors, the administration of the company will end with the company moving to dissolution. To achieve this, the joint administrators have filed a formal notice with the registrar of companies. The company will be deemed dissolved three months after the registration of that notice.

“The administration as approved in the revised proposals is now complete and our files will be closed.”