Six UK subsidiaries of the country’s sixth largest contractor ISG – including ISG Construction – have applied to enter administration.

Following months of speculation, which reached a crescendo online in recent days, the subsidiaries of the £2.2bn contractor filed court applications this afternoon.

Parent company ISG Ltd has so far not applied to the court.

The six companies that have applied for administration are: ISG Construction Ltd, ISG Engineering Services Ltd, ISG Retail Ltd, ISG Jackson Ltd, ISG UK Retail Ltd and ISG Central Services Ltd.

ISG Construction’s company accounts for the year to the end of 2022 were filed last year, showing a turnover of £544.7m and a profit of £3.2m.

ISG Retail Ltd logged a turnover for 2022 of £550.7m with a profit of £28.2m.

ISG Engineering Services made a £10.9m profit on revenue of £177.8m, while ISG Central Services made a £10.3m loss from a turnover of £58.7m.

ISG Jackson Ltd was exempt from filing full accounts, while the sixth firm to file an administration application, ISG UK Retail Ltd, has not filed accounts since 2010.

Parent firm ISG delayed reporting its accounts for 2023, pending the sale. The firm has been up for sale since July. Its owner, Texas-based Cathexis Holdings, announced at the time it was “very near” to being sold. It is currently unclear why the sale was delayed.

Construction News has been informed that workers on several sites have been told the firm had gone under and were instructed to leave site.

Rumours about the firm struggling to pay its subcontractors have swirled for months.

A further sign of trouble came on Monday (16 September), after one of the firm’s suppliers, Alandale Logistics, filed a winding-up petition against ISG Engineering Services Ltd.

A winding-up petition is a method creditors can use to compel a firm to repay a debt over £750. If successful, the creditor can seek to appoint an insolvency practitioner to liquidate the firm.

A spokesperson for ISG said that the contractor had resolved the dispute, but this morning the High Court told CN the case was still live, with an in-person hearing set for 30 September.

Last year, ISG was forced to deny “wholly inaccurate” rumours about its financial health, following delays to two of its most high-profile jobs.

In January, ISG chief executive Matt Blowers left the firm, citing the need for a “fundamental reset”, and was replaced by ISG chief operating officer Zoe Price.

ISG chief financial officer Karen Booth announced she would be stepping down in March.

Due to its delayed accounts, ISG kept its sixth spot in the most recent edition of the CN100.

Those accounts showed a pre-tax profit that fell by more than a third to £11.5m from £18.5m, while cash fell by more than 10 per cent to £104.7m from £119.9m.

The firm reported zero debt at the time, while its forward-order book surged to £1.32bn for its construction division alone.

ISG operates throughout Europe and in the UAE, although it reported that more than 80 per cent of its work in 2022 was in the UK.

ISG and Alandale Logistics have been contacted for comment.

Calls to ISG’s press office went unanswered and unreturned this evening.