Ribcraft goes into liquidation with a reported £4.1 million shortfall

Members passed written resolutions to wind the company up on 21 October 2026 and appointed the two liquidators the same day, according to the notice in The Gazette. Marine Business reported that the statement of affairs, prepared on 12 October, puts the shortfall facing non-preferential creditors at about £4.12 million. In that document customers are owed £355,498, trade suppliers £114,848, employees £201,055 and the director £1,747,302. Powerboat News said it had not seen the document and was relying on the Marine Business figures.

Fleet Bay Inshore Rescue Service told Marine Industry News it had paid £63,000, or 75% of the price, for a 5.3-metre lifeboat, then moved the hull to another builder in July to get it finished. Private Eye has reported a coastal search unit in Ireland that paid £96,000 and a second search and rescue group that paid £50,000 and was handed an unfinished boat. According to Marine Business, three lifeboat charities are believed to be left with incomplete vessels. The liquidators have not confirmed these accounts, and BTG said it cannot comment on how the company traded before its appointment, unfinished boats included.

Staff were told in letters in late August that the company was unable to keep paying them and their contracts were ending. BTG said 18 employees were made redundant and two had already resigned. The company stopped trading on 25 September, according to the liquidators' report cited by Marine Business, and staff were pointed to the Redundancy Payments Service.

BTG said it is looking into the company's assets, which are usually sold for creditors, and will set out what it finds in its report to creditors. Nobody has announced a buyer for the Ribcraft name, its moulds or its stock. The liquidation covers the UK company only, and Marine Industry News said it had seen nothing to suggest the wider Ribcraft Group or its overseas licensees are insolvent.