by DOUG COLLIE
Legal action seeking to enforce all four directors of an insolvent company from the Avocet stable to co-operate with the firm's administrators is underway as one of the Borders farms where ambitious developments were planned is up for sale with a valuation of £950,000.
Meanwhile the joint administrators of Orrdone Farms Ltd., previously trading as Avocet Farms Ltd, are seeking to recover £1.9 million from the liquidators of Omega Infinite plc, another business which operated as part of the Avocet empire.
The tangled nature of financial arrangements uncovered at Orrdone Farms is set out in a progress report to creditors by administrators Jeanette Brown and Emma Porter who have had to ask the Court for a year-long extension to the administration because of the complicated issues they are dealing with.
At
the time of the company's collapse in early 2020 the directors were Martin Frost, James R
Jennings and Janet Orr Frost. The company secretary was Eirlys Lloyd.
Secured lenders UK Agricultural Lending (UKALL) were said at that time to be owed £3.25 million plus interest and charges. The new report records the debt now stands at £4.497 million.
According to the administrators: "Our work has continued to be seriously curtailed by the non-cooperation of all of the directors of the company, and it is regrettable to report that they have continued to fail to provide any satisfactory explanations as to the state of the company's affairs as at the date of our appointment.
"As this is in direct contravention of their statutory duties as directors, the joint administrators are pursuing legal channels available to them under the Insolvency Act 1986.
"On the advice of their solicitors the joint administrators are seeking individual Court actions against the directors to enforce their cooperation under the following sections of the Act: Section 234, getting in the company's property; Section 235, duty to cooperate with office holder; and Section 236, inquiry into company's dealings".
Ms Brown and Ms Porter - Ms Brown retired at the end of February - have been repeatedly attacked in Avocet shareholder newsletters circulated by the company chairman Mr Frost. He frequently describes them as 'the bully girls'.
In an apparent reference to the letters issued by Avocet management, the new report says: "We continue to be made aware from a number of different sources of extensive correspondence issued to a wide variety of parties commenting directly on the administration procedure or the joint administrators personally.
"This extensive correspondence is at best often inaccurate and at times inappropriate, but suffice to say it is unfortunate that considerable time and resources must be spent on dealing with the communications to ensure that all relevant matters pertaining to the joint administration are appropriately dealt with and subject to further investigation where appropriate.
"Regrettably, our investigations so far suggest that the primary purpose of these communications is to deflect the joint administrators' attention away from the matters in hand in order to delay unnecessarily the progress of the administration and run up unnecessary and considerable time costs. Stakeholders need to be mindful of the existence of this unnecessary interference in the progress of the administration".
The administrators reveal that Harcarse Hill farm in Berwickshire, one of two agricultural holdings in the ownership of 'revolutionary' farming company Orrdone is now being marketed by the administration's agents Bidwells for offers in the region of £950,000.
Sums of money are said to be due from four 'Avocet' companies, including £88,864 from Avocet Faculties Ltd,, £77,540 from Avocet Infinite Renewables Ltd, and £194,031 from Harris Endeavour Ltd.
"In addition, sums due from Omega Infinite plc (now in liquidation) amount to £1.9 million plus VAT. This is in respect of the sale of the whole of the trading assets from Orrdone Farms which took place on June 1st 2019.
"A claim for this sum has been submitted in the liquidation, and communications with the liquidator on this matter are on-going".
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