Taxpayers face a £292m bill as British Steel is rescued by Chinese buyers 292 days after it collapsed
Taxpayers face a hefty bill after British Steel was finally rescued by Chinese buyers – 292 days after it collapsed.
The company ran out of cash in May due to poor trading, rising costs and the weak pound. Since then it has been kept afloat, while losing an estimated £1million a day, by the Government while a buyer is sought.
Yesterday China’s Jingye, which has been in talks for months, confirmed it will take control of the company from Monday.
British Steel ran out of cash in May due to poor trading, rising costs and the weak pound. Since then it has been kept afloat, while losing an estimated £1m a day
But taxpayers face a bill for keeping it afloat since May – possibly as much as £292million.
That is after accounts showed British Steel made a loss of £371.6million in the year to March 31.
Accountants at EY have reportedly been making £1million a week for running it on behalf of the Official Receiver, which claimed reports of losses of £1million a day were inaccurate, but declined to say how much the cost to taxpayers would be.
The takeover saves around 3,700 jobs, with 400 roles axed.
Jingye has vowed to pump in £1.2billion.