Doomed UK smartphone maker Bullitt Group finally liquidated

Preferred and secured creditors walk away with nothing

Brit-based ruggedized phone maker Bullitt Group's liquidation has finally wrapped up – and the firm was in such dire straits that none of its creditors received any recovered funds.

Bullitt Group designed and manufactured devices including rugged smartphones, some of which were marketed under recognizable brand names such as Caterpillar (CAT), Land Rover, and Motorola.

However, the group ran into financial difficulties during 2023, and went into administration in early 2024, with staff from PWC appointed as administrators. The directors made all employees redundant on 12 March 2024.

The final report [PDF] from the administrators, filed at Companies House, indicates that Bullitt Bidco Limited (BBL) and Bullitt Mobile Limited (BML) (the companies) are now fully wound up, and neither the secured creditors or the preferential creditors have received any funds.

It states that the founders of the group (Colin Batt, David Floyd, Richard Wharton) and BGF Nominees Limited (a lender) were the main equity holders, while Lloyds Bank and Bibby Financial Services were also lenders.

Neither Lloyds, Bibby, BGF or the founders "have not been paid any monies from the liquidations of either BBL or BML due to insufficient realization of assets."

The preferential creditors include former employees for wage arrears, and HMRC, the UK tax authority. There was likewise no payment to these "due to insufficient realizations."

As far as unsecured creditors go, "there is no dividend for the unsecured creditors in either company… because, based on current estimates, the companies' net property will be less than £10,000 [$13,600] each, which means the estimated value of the prescribed part is nil." The prescribed part is a fund made available to unsecured creditors, paid out of net property available after preferential creditors have been paid – or not in this case.

The administrator's report says they contacted BML's bank in order to have funds moved to the liquidator's account, which realized £848.22 ($1,150) in relation to funds held by Lloyds, while BBL did not have any cash balances at the time of their appointment.

BML's offices included furniture, computers and other electronic devices, with the landlord keeping the furniture, "which was deemed to have little or no resale value after costs." Some laptops, servers and other devices were collected, wiped and sold off by a third party, but the administrators say the cash gained from this was offset by the costs incurred.

Some of BML's assets included unsold products in overseas warehouses, but these were all branded CAT or Motorola, and those two firms declined to allow their sale, preventing any value from being recovered from them.

Bullitt Group was founded in 2009, with BBL operating as a holding and financing vehicle within the group, while BML was the group's primary trading entity.

The companies were funded through a combination of secured lending from Lloyds and Bibby, plus vendor loan notes held by the founders and BGF. Following a private equity injection in 2017, the group returned to ownership by the founders in 2019.

According to the administrator's report, the business was significantly impacted by economic challenges such as the Covid pandemic and the ensuing supply chain disruption, plus the war in Ukraine, resulting in losses from FY2020 to FY2022.

In early 2023, it looked like Bullitt Group was bouncing back with new products, including the CAT S75, Motorola defy 2 and the Motorola defy satellite link, as covered by The Register at the time. The first two were smartphones with support for a satellite messaging service the company also introduced, while the third was a Bluetooth dongle to allow other phones to access the service.

However, although it successfully launched these, it was unable to secure the necessary funding to support "hardware-related working capital needs," leading to the business running out of cash in December 2023, and unable to avoid an insolvency process.

The founders were reported to have bought up the company's IP on the same day that PWC was appointed as administrator.

With the winding up of the companies now complete, a copy of the final account will be sent to the Registrar of Companies following a period in which any of the creditors may raise an objection. ®