Bifab entered administration in December 2020 after failing to win new contracts, a move which followed a multi-million-pound loan from the Scottish Government in 2018. A recent report from administrators Teneo states that repayment of the outstanding loan is “uncertain”.

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is owed more than £1.3m, is a secured creditor and ranks ahead of the Scottish Government for repayment. According to Teneo, any payment to the government is contingent on RBS being paid in full first. Even in a best-case scenario, the maximum amount the Scottish Government could recover is capped at £600,000. To date, no preferential or unsecured creditors have received any payment, The Courier reports.

This specific loss comes after Scottish ministers wrote-off over £51m in loans to the company between 2017 and 2018.

Following the administration, Bifab’s sites in Methil and Arnish were acquired by Harland and Wolff. The Burntisland yard was not part of the deal. In a subsequent turn of events, Harland and Wolff also fell into administration before being purchased last year by the Spanish state-owned shipbuilder Navantia.

An independent audit by Ernst & Young, published earlier this year, criticised the government’s original intervention. It found the decision was made under “significant time pressure and with limited access to information”, and that clear objectives for the loan were not formally documented. The Scottish Government maintains it is continuing its efforts to recover the money owed.