(Credit: George Iordanov-Nalbantov)

The administrators’ statement of proposals, compiled by Clare Kennedy, Ian Partridge and Ben Browne, names 59 creditors across Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray and Nairn, to whom a combined total of £2,377,513 remains outstanding.

Among those owed money are Aberdeenshire Council (£238,252), Aberdeen City Council (£23,559), logistics firm ARR Craib Transport, packaging supplier Pitreavie Packaging Ltd, Sinclair Agricultural and Recycling Services Ltd (£115,591), and smaller local businesses such as The Coffee Apothecary.

The Ellon-based brewer entered administration with total debts estimated at more than £550 million – over £280m within BrewDog Plc itself and a further £270m within its retail arm.

Unsecured creditors of the Plc, facing claims of around £190m, are expected to recover less than a penny in the pound, whilst unsecured creditors of the retail business, owed an estimated £207.7m, are unlikely to receive any dividend at all. The company made nearly 500 members of staff redundant upon entering administration.
BrewDog’s brand and certain assets, including its Ellon brewery, were subsequently acquired by Canadian company Tilray Brands for £33m.

One Aberdeen managing director was sharply critical of the insolvency process. “The current system of companies going into liquidation and suppliers being left high and dry, while the new company effectively buys the assets and walks away from the debt is wrong,” he told The Press & Journal. “If a company wants to buy a business from liquidators, they should honour the debt. To add insult to injury, suppliers are often asked to continue working with the new company after taking a loss. As suppliers, we have no voice. The law needs to change.”