iSG, the sixth-largest contractor in the UK with 69 live government contracts, has plunged into administration with 2,200 employees made redundant.
The company is involved buiding projects for prisons and police stations, and counts Apple, Barclays and Google among its private sector clients.
It has an office in Stepps, near Glasgow and last year, it was appointed to oversee the extensive refurbishment of a distillery and visitor centre for whisky and gin distillery Eden Mill.
EY has been appointed administrator to eight UK trading entities of ISG which said it has experienced ‘liquidity constraints’ in recent months.
in a statement, EY said: “ISG’s UK operations, which provided construction and related services in the UK, have ceased to trade with immediate effect. As a result, no further work will be undertaken on existing UK contracts, including for Construction, Fit Out and Engineering services. “
ISG reported revenue of £2.2 billion and pre-tax profits of £11.5 million, according to the latest accounts filed at Companies House.
Its collapse is the biggest casualty in the sector since Carillion went into liquidation in 2018.
The administrators stated that the group’s directors explored a number of options to secure the future of the business, including a sale of all or part of the group and refinancing options.
Despite ‘significant efforts’ to secure a sale of the group over many months, a deal could not be completed.
The administrators added that, whilst there has been ‘misleading speculation’ surrounding the potential sale in the last few days, they wished to be clear to employees, suppliers, and customers that it was ‘not possible to conclude a sale as the potential purchaser could not, despite repeated requests of them to do so, adequately demonstrate that they had the funding needed to recapitalise the business and keep it solvent’.
Due to current market conditions, an alternative sale or additional funding could not be secured. As a result, the directors made an application to court to place certain UK trading entities of ISG in administration.