Administrator: cracks at Strata Logistics emerged following customer’s collapse

Path Business Recovery said the Bedfordshire haulage firm had also leased new premises and a warehouse to facilitate the unnamed client’s storage demands, but when it subsequently ceased trading, Strata was left with significant overheads and no customer that required the space.

As previously reported, Path also told creditors that the business was sold on 4 April in a pre-pack deal costing £30,000 to a company called Secured Transport Logistics.

Path added that there was no connection between the purchaser and the directors, shareholders or secured creditors of Strata, or its associates.

Strata Logistics was set up in 2014 and it had contracts with Royal Mail as well as a large supermarket, thought to be Asda, in addition to the “large delivery company” that ultimately closed down.

Path said it reached a peak turnover in 2022 when revenues hit £13.5m. Average contract values ranged from £500,000 to £4m.

In an effort to deal with the bad debt, a connected company called Paul White Holdings repaid a loan of £800,000 in order to assist with cash flow and it attempted to tender for a very large contract with a UK-wide delivery firm.

However, the company was told that this contract would not proceed as early as hoped and, coupled with HM Revenue & Customs launching an investigation into “historical VAT accounting practices” at Strata Logistics, it was forced to seek insolvency advice.

Path said: “The benefits of achieving a pre-packaged sale were the transfer of the employees and the absence of a break in supply of goods and services, which would enable a value to be achieved for goodwill and customer contracts.

“There were six employees who were transferred as part of the sale.”