ISG administrators recover fraction of £885m owed to creditors

Administrators have recovered just a fraction of ISG Group’s debts, with payouts to unsecured creditors from the £885 million owed “not anticipated”, as the administration, led by EY, entered its second year.

Total recoveries stand at approximately £38.5 million, reflecting the ongoing challenge of untangling the group’s complex finances since it entered administration in September 2024. 

During the period from 20 September 2025 to 19 March 2026, nearly £12.2 million was collected from £241.6 million in book debts, retentions, and work-in-progress balances, including settlements and legal disputes totalling more than £8.7 million from ISG Engineering Services and ISG Retail.

Further recoveries came from intercompany balances and asset realisations, including the surrender of its London head office, utility refunds, and dividends from related administrations.

This included £1.9 million from its US-based investor parent company Cathexis Group entities, said to owe £252.2 million, partial repayments from ISG Austria, and £794,000 in bank interest, bringing cumulative interest income since the start of the administration to more than £2.1 million.

A £52,000 dividend was also received from the administration of Alucraft, the collapsed facade specialist involved in Everton Stadium’s cladding works. 

Despite the recoveries, the total remains far short of the £885 million in unsecured claims from those including suppliers.

HMRC, which is owed £91 million, will also “not be fully repaid”.

Employee claims linked to Protective Awards, which compensate staff when employers fail to consult on 20 or more redundancies within 90 days, have been partially paid for 1,687 staff, with further payouts expected.

Primary preferential creditors, including employees, in respect of pay, are expected to receive full or partial settlements. 

Administrators said: “[We] continue to receive claims from the non-preferential, unsecured creditors of the companies.

“At this stage, we do not anticipate that there will be sufficient realisations available to generate a prescribed part amount that would be available for distribution to non-preferential, unsecured creditors.”

At the time of EY’s appointment, the £2.1 billion turnover group had 723 projects, including 184 live.

Its collapse, which revealed debts of £1.1 billion, caused thousands of job losses, widespread supply chain failures, and exposed unsustainable, low-margin contracts, compounded by inflation, material price increases, and COVID-19 disruptions.

The administration, extended to September, has its next progress report due around October.

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