Two years after ISG collapsed, trade creditors owed £885 million will get nothing

Eight ISG companies entered administration on Sept. 20, 2024. In the latest progress report, covering the six months to Sept. 19, 2026, EY's Timothy Vance and Alan Hudson put total recoveries at £45.5 million, Construction News reported. That is almost four times the £11.4 million ISG's directors had expected to collect from debtors. About £7 million came in during the latest six months, down from £12.2 million in the period before.

The money came from unpaid invoices, retentions, work in progress and legal claims. The biggest receipt was a £5 million final installment on a £10 million settlement of an ISG Engineering Services claim. Another £1.6 million arrived on Sept. 22 after ISG Retail won an adjudication; it will appear in the next report.

Very little of it will reach the supply chain. HMRC, the UK tax authority, has a £91 million preferential claim and will recover only part of it, Construction Enquirer reported. The administrators said they do not expect enough money to pay anything to non-preferential unsecured creditors. The process itself has cost £25.6 million: £11.03 million in EY time costs over 16,262.7 hours, plus £14.57 million in legal fees, litigation funding and other expenses.

EY is still pursuing several large legal claims with law firm Pinsent Masons, and in September the High Court extended the administration to Sept. 19, 2028. The administrators are also pressing three claims against the company that bought ISG's former Spanish business. Nothing has been recovered from it yet.