CREDITORS hit by the £1.3 million crash of Bury's award-winning Nationwide Telephone Company face the prospect of being left permanently out of pocket.

For it emerged this week there is no prospect of cash being paid to any class of creditor owed money in the wake of the company's collapse in April.

Almost all the firm's 100 Bury-based personnel at its headquarters in Peel Way were made redundant after the receivers moved in. At its height, Nationwide employed a workforce of 160 at ten sites across the UK.

The company, originally launched by managing director Mark Bedward 14 years ago, eventually grew to become the UK's leading independent provider of telecommunication services.

However, after being unhappy with the way the business was being run, Mr Bedward ultimately quit Nationwide a week before the receivers were called in.

This week, a report from the Manchester-based Official Receiver disclosed the estimated totally deficiency of Nationwide amounted to £1.32 million, with just over £1 million of that figure relating to issued capital through shares. Liabilities included employee claims of £125,000 and Crown (Inland Revenue, VAT) totalling £273,000.

The document also revealed creditors were owed a total of £286,000. Assets included £640,000, secured through the sale of the business to southern-based Microcare Sytems Ltd which acquired Nationwide's UK-wide maintenance division from the receivers. Other figures detail the Bury company's previous good financial performance. At January 31 this year, Nationwide's turnover had soared to £3.35 million - compared to just £836,000 three years earlier - while net profits over the same period increased from £104,000 to £799,000.

The report quotes Mr Bedward as stating trading was profitable until January 1996. Later that year, another similar business was acquired for £100,000 which was mainly funded by a share issue.

The document went on: "The new business did not perform as expected and the increased overheads incurred caused trading losses. He attributes the failure of the company to the acquisition of another company and subsequent appointment of new directors causing friction in the management team and dispute over business direction.

"The company relied on credit from suppliers and borrowing from its bankers which eventually withdrew support and appointed administrative receivers."

Mr Bedward later went on to launch a new telecommunications company, taking on a number of ex-Nationwide staff.

The crash of the Bury firm came a month after Nationwide, former winners of Granada TV's "Flying Start" programme, scooped the top prize in the annual Bolton and Bury Business Awards.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.