Is Sunningdale House Developments Ltd in financial difficulty?

Update Jan 6 @15:12

Update – At 14:00 today, ninety minutes after we published our report, Sunningdale have filed accounts with Companies House. They are not currently visible to the public, but will be within 10 days.

It has come to our attention that the accounts for Sunningdale House Developments Ltd are now six days overdue, according to Companies House.

The latest set of accounts were due to be published by 31 Dec 2022, however this has not happened.

As we understand Sunningdale were sent an electronic reminder their accounts were due by the 31st Dec 2022, on the 20 Dec 2022.

The accounts for Sunningdale House Developments Ltd are group accounts.

The Shepway Vox Team filleted their accounts up to 2020, at the end of June 2022. They showed then the company was in a precarious position and in its report to members, the company’s auditor Burgess Hodgson LLP – drew attention to the “material uncertainty in respect of going concern”, but did not modify its audit opinion that going concern is the correct basis on which to evaluate the accounts.

Were these early warning signs there were issues within the group?

Sunningdale are at various stages of signing contracts with a variety of partners such as:

Folkestone & Hythe District Council to build out 150 homes at Princes Parade.  Let’s not forget Sunningdale informed the world they had “acquired” the Princes Parade & Hythe Pool sites in June 2022

However shortly after we announced they’d “acquired” the land, Cllr Lesley Whybrow, confirmed no contract for the sale of the land had been completed.

It is also known that Kent County Council have a deal with Sunningdale which came into effect as of the 19/04/22, according to Land Registry documents. Planning Permission to develop the former Foxwood School site in Hythe with 150 apartments and dwellings of two, three and four bedrooms, 15 of which are affordable units, was granted in July/Aug 2021.

Have Folkestone & Hythe District Council & Kent County Council made wise decisions, given that Sir Roger De Haan informed our public face at the Go Folkestone AGM, due diligence had shown they were not the right people to develop one of the site owned by Saga.

Sunningdale has been granted planning permission to develop land in Ashford with Guy Holloway as the architect.

Now given the accounts for 2021 are late, should those who’ve signed contracts with Sunningdale, or owed money by them be concerned?

That’s for them to decide.

All we can say now, is the process is either for Sunningdale to submit its accounts to Companies House and everything continues as normal. If Sunningdale doesn’t, Companies House will issue a first reminder the accounts are due at some point next week. If they fail to respond, then a second reminder will be issued two weeks after the first reminder. If that goes unanswered, a further fortnight later Companies House issue a Compulsory Strike off notice.

Let’s not forget one of the owners of Sunningdale House Developments Ltd, David Richard Pownceby (pictured) dissolved Lilybrook Developments Ltd, Lilybrook Construction Ltd, DRP Estates Ltd and other related companies, owing £34,331,309, to 124 creditors, according to companies house, and the Insolvency practitioner who wound the companies up, in mid 2013.

If you are a creditor, it might be a wise idea to inquire why the accounts are late. It might be because the company is in financial difficulty, or it might be they simply forgot to submit their accounts. Either way, there is no harm in asking, given Mr Pownceby’s previous company history.

The Shepway Vox Team

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