Creditors of collapsed trade finance firm Stronghold Global Finance (UK) Limited are owed at least £1.28mn and may not receive any disbursements from the company’s estate, liquidators have said.
A court placed Stronghold into liquidation last year after it failed to pay debts of £181,000 to seven creditors, including former employees and vendors such as the company’s former landlord.
A progress report by the company’s liquidators, made public on October 24, showed that the amount believed to be owed to unsecured trade creditors had risen to £747,908, but that the figure “is likely significantly higher”.
The total includes both creditors that have provided proof of claim forms and additional amounts estimated by the liquidators, FRP Advisory, based on their work to date.
A further £400,000 is owed in tax, and another £135,129 to employees with non-preferential status, according to the report. HMRC, the UK’s tax authority, has not yet filed a claim for the unpaid dues.
“At this stage, it is unlikely that a dividend will be declared” for either preferential or non-preferential creditors, the report noted.
But the liquidators said they are continuing “to investigate the conduct and affairs of the company and its associated persons” and considering whether to take legal action to “enable realisations to the estate”.
“We are continuing to monitor the viability of bringing a number of claims against third parties in this matter. Further details cannot be disclosed at this time to ensure that any claims are not prejudiced.”
Stronghold had no secured creditors when a court ordered it to be wound up in late August 2024.
There were “significant problems” assisting employees with forms for an Insolvency Service redundancy payments scheme “due to non-cooperation of the directors and the company who held the records”, the liquidators said.
Stronghold was founded in 2021, intending to provide trade finance to SME traders that have been worst hit by a shrinking of bank liquidity for the sector.
A year before its liquidation, Stronghold was also facing a legal claim from a company alleging the financier refused to refund upfront fees of £163,730 after not executing a £17.6mn working capital facility in 2022.
Tohib Doyin-Iyiola, Stronghold’s founder and former chief executive, could not be reached for comment.
In March 2024, he told GTR that “the company at all times declines to comment on specific allegations and denies any wrongdoing or unlawful conduct”
Sanjay Nath, the sole director of Stronghold at the time of the winding up, did not respond to a request for comment. He has previously told GTR he is a non-executive director.
Stronghold was renamed SGF Transaction Services shortly before the winding-up order.
