A liquidator’s report filed at Companies House last week shows Healthcare Events Ltd had net debts of more than £500,000 when it was placed into voluntary receivership by directors a year ago.

Liquidator Critchleys of Oxford said unsecured creditors totalling debts of £627,000 had received ‘dividend’ payments of 18p in the pound but “additional payments would be forthcoming”. This includes payments owed to staff of £72,000. However, the overall shortfall is still expected to exceed £500,000 after payment of preferential creditors.

The original shortfall was estimated at £791,000 but was kept down by the swift action of directors, according to Anthony Harris of Critchleys. Critchleys’ costs were £71,000 plus expenses.

The last filed accounts for the company to June 2010 showed net assets of £385k with more than £500k of cash at bank and were produced on a going concern basis although losses were being incurred at that time. The notes to the accounts said: “The future is uncertain but costs have been reduced, cash reserves remain strong and the company continues to meet its financial obligations in a timely manner.”