That's a shocker; they have been a fixture of the North of Scotland for half a century.

For those not familiar, they are (were) a major regional timber frame building company, with a turnover of around £200m. Devastating for Stuart Milne himself, who had delayed retirement to try and pull them through the post-Covid trading environment, and for the employees.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-67918029

"I believe one of the bids could have delivered a comparable, financial return to administration and, crucially, allowed the business to continue to operate, safe-guarding hundreds of jobs and protecting livelihoods."

 

Should be able to pick up the best bits, without debt, from the receiver.

 

We often criticise the large builders for building cheap shoddy houses (I am not at all saying this happened with this builder) but even with the economy of scale is shows it is hard for a large builder to be profitable.