Nightclub owner Luminar Group Holdings, which owns Dundee’s Liquid Nightclub, has gone into administration.
The Milton Keynes-based company, which has 75 clubs and bars and claims to be the largest club owner in the UK, said it is unable to meet repayments to three banks.
Shares in the group, which employs more than 3,000 staff, have been suspended and the jobs of all their staff are said to be at risk.
The payments to Lloyds, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland were due today, the same day the company was due to announce its first-half results. However, administrators moved in on Wednesday after the group confirmed it was unable to pay its debts to them.
City analysts had predicted severe problems for the company after watching Luminar’s shares plummet in recent years after attempts to restructure it’s £90 million debts.
A decade ago they were trading as high as 850p, but trading was suspended on Wednesday with the share price at 0.71p.
No one from Luminar or Liquid Nightclub was available for comment, but a club insider said it was likely to be business as usual for Liquid as the administrators attempt to find a buyer for all or part of the chain of clubs.
”Liquid in Dundee has been working quite well for the company and as long as the administrators are searching for a buyer I think they will definitely keep it operating,” said the insider.