Sale of Glasgow west end care home sale nets £1m for charity

The Herald Scotland

4 days ago

It is one of a number of care homes across the country which have failed under pressure from cost inflation, staff shortages, and a lack of public funding. Balmanno House had 51 rooms, but occupancy levels were said to be consistently at or below 85% which contributed to operating losses.
Administrators Blair Milne and James Fennessey at accountancy firm Azets traded Balmanno House, which was built in 1874, for a short period to ensure an orderly relocation of residents to alternative care.
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Now, more than two years later and following 'considerable' interest in the property, the building has been sold for residential development for an undisclosed sum. A statement from Azets said the sale of the property to RSD Property Holdings has ensured that all creditors at the date of administration received payment in full, together with statutory interest, including payment of all redundancy pay and other entitlements due to the former workforce. The care home had around 68 employees.
Mr Milne, head of restructuring and insolvency at Azets in Scotland, said: 'It gives me great pleasure to see such a substantial sum being made available for distribution to charity. It is very rare for all creditors to receive full repayment together with interest from any insolvency process, let alone such a substantial sum being made available to charities.'
He added: 'I would like to express my thanks to the board of trustees for their actions and their support prior to the administration appointment and throughout the insolvency process. The actions of the trustees, particularly seeking early advice on cash flow management, helped to ensure an orderly winding down of the care home operation, an optimal outcome from sale of the company's property asset and ultimately a substantial sum being distributed to charity at the end of the process'.
Speaking on behalf of the board of trustees, Allan Carrick, a former chairman of the care home, said: 'The former trustees of Balmanno House are delighted with the outcome of the administration and subsequent liquidation and are very pleased that so many deserving charities of their choice will benefit from the distribution of the surplus funds.'
The insolvency process moved to a liquidation to allow the affairs of the company to be wound up and the funds distributed to creditors.
A statement said the joint liquidators now plan to finalise matters and to distribute the surplus funds held in the liquidation for charitable purpose, in accordance with the wishes of the trustees of Balmanno House. The charities in line for a share of the windfall include Glasgow East End Community Carers; able2sail; St Francis Care Home; CrossReach; Association for the Relief of Infirmity in the West of Scotland; Ayrshire Hospice; Tenovus Scotland Strathclyde; Glasgow Children's Hospital; and The Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice.
Mr Milne added: "The challenges facing the care sector have been well documented in recent years, with many care homes caught in a perfect storm of rising labour and operational costs, insufficient public funding, workforce shortages and unstable occupancy levels, all whilst compliance requirements have intensified.
"Many are operating at very tight margins and unable to increase revenue to meet rising operating costs. Sadly, a number of care homes have had no option but to enter into an insolvency process due to an inability to meet the liabilities of the business.
'As can be seen from the outcome achieved with Balmanno House, taking early advice on restructuring and insolvency ensures that all options remain available, either to restructure and preserve the business or to maximise the value available to stakeholders from a sale of the company's assets'.