Harworth Estates Residential Development Limited filed a petition to wind up TopHat Communities Ltd on 2nd August. It is scheduled to be heard at the High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts in Leeds on 13th August.
In March this year TopHat mothballed plans to open a new factory at Magna Park, Corby.
Most recent accounts for TopHat Communities Ltd show a £5.1m pre-tax loss on turnover of £13.4m for the year to 31st October 2022.
TopHat Communities is the arm of the business that is responsible for the deployment of modules on customer sites. Manufacturing is undertaken by TopHat Industries Ltd, which lost more than £20m before tax in 2022 on barely £10m of sales.
The move into the Corby factory – to increase production capacity from the 800 units a year that can currently build in Dove Valley Park, near Derby, to 4,800 units – was meant to be the route to profitability.
TopHat’s shareholders include Goldman Sachs, Persimmon and Aviva Capital Partners. Creditors include the British taxpayer; last November Homes England lent it £15m.
Asked why he was risking public money in this way, especially given that Homes England had to write off £60m loans to Ilke Homes, which collapse last year, Homes England chief executive Peter Denton said at the time: “This funding will support TopHat to manufacture more than four times the number of new homes it currently can each year. Not only will this significantly increase the delivery capacity of the MMC sector as a whole in the UK, it will also create 1,000 jobs. It is vital we continue to support innovations that promote a diverse, efficient homebuilding sector.”
