Cheshire housebuilder enters administration | Construction News

Affordable-homes builder Lane End Developments Construction has entered administration.

Last month the Warrington-based company revealed it was in talks with a buyer over a potential takeover, adding that it was “entering the final stages of negotiations and due diligence to secure a successful share purchase”.

But the firm, which had a turnover of £81.1m in the year to 31 May 2022, has now announced the appointment of Quantuma Advisory directors as administrators.

Lane End was founded in 2016 and has completed more than 1,000 homes across the North West of England, mainly for social housing providers.

Its latest results filed at Companies House show the developer made a pre-tax profit of £244,936 in the year to last May, and employed an average of 106 people.

A directors’ report filed alongside the results when they were published this January said inflation and material shortages had caused “continued challenges”.

It added that the business would “actively review” operating costs and “seek reductions where possible”.

The annual report showed cash levels had dropped by more than £3m in the latest year, to stand at £2.7m in May 2022.

Directors noted that the pandemic had led to work delays, meaning that on 31 May last year, “a good number of contracts were still in progress and hence causing there to be a depletion in cash”.

But they added that activity since the year-end had produced “a positive effect upon the cash flow and cash base for the business”.

A company statement this week said: “On 4 April 2023, the directors of Lane End Developments Construction Limited placed the company into administration and appointed Jeremy Woodside and Frank Ofonagoro of Quantuma Advisory Limited as joint administrators.”

Quantuma has been contacted for comment.