A company that operated two hotels in Perthshire has been dissolved after a liquidation process.
Mountview Hotels Limited owned The Crags Hotel and Abbotsford Lodge, both in Callander.
Both hotels stopped trading at the end of December 2022, leading to several redundancies. Administrators were appointed just over two years ago.
At the time administrator Michelle Elliot, a partner with FRP Advisory, explained the company’s problems.
She said: “The company was unable to survive the fall in revenue coupled with the significant increase in fixed costs over recent months.”
Liquidation of Mountview Hotels Limited
Administrators are appointed to raise as much money as possible from the company’s assets to be distributed to creditors.
Abbotsford Lodge was sold for £625,000 in July 2023.
The Crags Hotel had been placed on the market for offers over £425,000 in August 2022, prior to the administration. It was eventually sold in March 2024 for £281,935.
The amounts raised have not covered the company’s debts, which were in excess of £1.1 million.
The Royal Bank of Scotland held a security over both hotels and a charge over all assets in the company.
The bank put in a claim for £881,000 and received a distribution of £687,000 – the sum left after administration costs.
Other creditors received nothing.
These included HMRC, which was owed £136,000 and customer deposits, estimated at £10,000.
Other unsecured creditors were stated as £65,000 for loans and £50,000 for trade creditors.
Just under £3,000 was due to employees for pay and holiday pay.
The administrators at first anticipated there would be a distribution to employees, who were preferential creditors.
However, the most recent progress report states: “There were insufficient funds to enable a distribution to be paid to the preferential creditors.
“This outcome was worse than that estimated in the proposals.
“The sale proceeds from the properties were lower than initially expected thus resulting in a shortfall to secured and preferential creditors”.
Hotels now under new ownership
Both hotels are open again under new owners.
13-bedroom Abbotsford Lodge was acquired by Sirple Ltd, owned by Crieff couple Craig Gillespie and Kayleigh Keith.
Meanwhile, Crags Hotel reopened with an Indian restaurant, bar and the offer of cooking lessons by new owner Vishant Das. It reopened in May last year.
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