Limerick's Nautic Building Co goes bust, owing more than €5.2m to ‘angry’ creditors

Earlier this month, Deloitte’s Andrew Byrne and James Anderson were appointed as liquidators.

It followed what sources described as a “very fraught” creditors’ meeting at The Southcourt Hotel, Raheen.

The Sunday Independent understands the €5.2m liabilities include more than €4.28m in trade payables, a €196,600 debt to Revenue and more than €288,500 in claims from 21 employees.

It is further understood that assets at Nautic Building Company were given a net book value of over €4.2m but were estimated to realise around €2.27m.

This meant the company had an estimated net deficiency of over €2.93m.

Sources said the creditors’ meeting in Raheen was “full of angry people”, mostly made up of subcontractors who had worked with the company on various jobs.

One source said he had worked with Nautic Building Company on several projects over recent years.

He claimed his business would be “under pressure” due to the liquidation, which could leave him being owed hundreds of thousands of euro.

Another source said he began to suspect problems were afoot when payments became slower than usual.

According to multiple sources who attended the meeting, a statement read to creditors said Nautic Building Company had been involved in several significant projects during 2023.

The contracts it won included a large-scale housing development in Castleconnell, Murroe Wood Community Centre and a sizable private project.

Sources said the statement made clear that the contracts provided “considerable profitability challenges” and had resulted in working capital difficulties.

Nautic Building Company, whose directors include Jason Quirke, has been well-known in Limerick and the surrounding areas.

In April 2022, the company was appointed as the main contractor on an €8m industrial space development at the Shannon Free Zone.

The 60,000 sq ft building, which was to be delivered within 10 months, was designed for foreign firms and Irish enterprises seeking multi-functional space and is suitable for manufacturing, industrial and research and development use.

The construction company was also appointed as the contractor for a 140-seat multi-purpose theatre building for boys’ secondary school Ardscoil Rís in Limerick city.

Nautic Building Company is also understood to have carried out work for the family of JP McManus.

There was a high number of insolvencies in the construction sector in 2023.

According to a report by Deloitte Ireland, the construction industry recorded 89 insolvencies in 2023, representing just over 13pc of total insolvencies.

This was reported as a notable increase of 62pc on the previous year when 55 construction insolvencies were recorded.

The Deloitte report said this was unsurprising given the difficulties construction companies face around increasing materials costs.

Deloitte found that 663 corporate insolvencies were recorded in Ireland last year, a 25pc increase on 2022’s number of 530. It was the highest corporate insolvency level recorded since 2018.

The most insolvencies were recorded in the services sector, with 261. Hospitality had the second-highest with 99.