Former chief executive of Carlauren Group disqualified from acting as company director

Former chief executive of the Carlauren Group, Sean Murray, has been disqualified from acting as a company director for ten years, in relation to his conduct regarding a care studio development.

A report from the Insolvency Service said that while a director of CHF 9 Ltd, Murray entered 51 sales contracts with investors for care studios in a Grade II* listed building despite not having applied for formal planning permission.

He had claimed more than 80 apartments would be developed at the site and completed the sale of 51 for £8.16m.

The proceeds of the sale were not paid directly into the bank account of CHF 9 Ltd and development works were not carried out at the site. The parent company entered administration in 2019 and is now in liquidation.

Robert Armstrong of Kroll and Carl Jackson of Quantuma, administrators for the Carlauren Group, which also fell into administration in 2019 are investigating the use of funds in relation to areas of the business not including CHF 9 Ltd, to see if any cash may be recovered to pay creditors. Their remit includes Carlauren Group Ltd, Carlauren Technology, Carlauren Travel, Casarian Holdings, Heritage Hotels and Respite Rooms.

An administrators’ progress report stated: “The joint administrators have filed confidential reports with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy regarding the conduct of the directors of the companies.

“During the reporting period Sean Murray has been disqualified from acting as a director of a company for a period of 10 years, commencing on 12 May 2022, specifically for his conduct while acting as a director of CHF 9 Ltd.”

Preferential creditors for the areas of company under the remit of Armstrong and Jackson have made claims amounting to £125,724, including by former employees who are owed pay and holiday pay.

In November 2019 The Caterer reported that dozens of hotel employees had not been paid their wages in full the previous month due to "cash flow problems". At the time Murray said all money owed would be paid by the end of November, when the group was expected to be "back on track".

Claims from unsecured creditors to date across all companies in the group amount to £940,655. Administrators have said they are uncertain if there will be available funds for payments to be made to non-preferential unsecured creditors.

Key matters being progressed by the administrators include, securing all freehold and leasehold properties; facilitating the closure of all trading hotels; obtaining a freezing injunction against Murray for any assets he may hold up to £40m as well as investigating the companies’ financial affairs, including the tracing of investor funds, and realising assets.

Heritage Hotels' nine properties all ceased to trade. They included: Eton House in Yeovil, South Somerset; Auckland House on the Isle of Wight; Dean Valley Manor in Lydney, Gloucestershire; the Coppice hotel in Torquay, Devon; Langdon Court in Plymouth; Lambert Manor in Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria; the Headway hotel in Morecambe, Lancashire; Tyndale House in Yeovil, Somerset; and Arbour hotel in Barmouth, Gwynedd.