MAPLEGATE HOMES LIMITED

Financial Health Assessment: MAPLEGATE HOMES LIMITED

1. Financial Health Score: F Explanation: The company is in a state of severe financial distress, exhibiting chronic insolvency. Its liabilities vastly exceed its assets by over £2.7 million, and it possesses virtually no cash to operate. The business is currently surviving entirely on life support provided by the director's personal funds. Without this external intervention, the company would be unable to meet its immediate financial obligations.

2. Key Vital Signs * Pulse (Cash Position): £962 — Critically Weak. The company has less than £1,000 in the bank. For a construction business, this represents severe financial anemia. It lacks the necessary working capital to self-fund even the most basic day-to-day operations. * Blood Pressure (Working Capital): -£336,133 — Dangerously Low. Current liabilities (£557,095) drastically outweigh current assets (£220,962). This means that if short-term creditors demanded payment tomorrow, the company would suffer an immediate financial stroke, unable to settle its debts. * BMI/Weight (Net Assets): -£2,789,618 — Morbidly Obese with Debt. The company is deeply insolvent. It has carried a massive deficit on its balance sheet for at least a decade, with total liabilities overwhelming total assets year after year. * Organ Function (Trading Activity): Slowing. The company went from 1 employee in 2023 to 0 employees in 2024. While the director remains, the lack of payroll suggests that operational activity has potentially stalled or is being managed entirely externally.

3. Diagnosis Chronic Insolvency with Acute Liquidity Failure.

The financial data reveals a business that is technically insolvent and has been for many years. However, this is not a sudden heart attack; it is a chronic condition. The £2.7 million deficit has remained relatively stagnant over the past decade, suggesting these liabilities are likely long-standing, non-commercial debts (potentially historical director loans or group undertakings) that are not currently being aggressively called in.

The most telling symptom is found in the notes: the director, Mr. Khandanpour, advanced £86,789 to the company during the year, while only £158,710 remains outstanding. This indicates the director is actively injecting personal funds to keep the company breathing, covering the cash shortfall to keep it from flatlining. The £220,000 in "stocks" (likely work-in-progress properties or land) is the only real asset of value, but it is heavily mortgaged against the £557k of short-term creditors.

Furthermore, there is a symptom of administrative distress: the accounts are currently overdue, suggesting a lack of compliance bandwidth or operational strain.

4. Recommendations To stabilize the patient and prevent terminal decline, the following immediate interventions are required:

• Asset Realization (Surgery): The £220,000 in stocks must be converted into cash as efficiently as possible. Whether this is an unsold property or building materials, it is the only viable path to generating organic working capital.
• Debt Restructuring (Physical Therapy): The long-term creditors (£2.45 million) and short-term creditors need to be formally restructured. If a significant portion of this debt is owed to the director (as historical P&L reserves and director loans suggest), a formal capital contribution—converting director loans into equity—would clean up the balance sheet and make the company appear financially viable to external parties.
• Immediate Cash Transfusion (Life Support): Until the stocks are realized, the director must continue to provide short-term funding. However, this should be strictly documented and limited to avoid throwing good money after bad.
• Compliance Care: The overdue accounts must be filed immediately to avoid Companies House penalties and potential strike-off, which would complicate any attempts to sell the company's stock.