A Dublin software firm backed by stockbroker Ronan Reid, his firm Dolmen Securities and financier Nigel McDermott has gone into liquidation with debts of €633,532.
The biggest unsecured creditors of the Horton Company are Dolmen, which is owed €193,965 and its joint managing director Mr Reid, who is owed €190,186. Some €145,339 is due to Mr McDermott, a co-founder of the Cardinal Asset Management hedge fund and a former director of Mr Dermot Desmond's IIU group.
External creditors have a very limited exposure to the company, which traded as Fyntel and specialised in customer relationship management software for the financial sector. The biggest of these, Ulster Bank, is owed €54,820, a sum that Mr Reid said was personally guaranteed by the firm's shareholders.
The figures were detailed in an estimated statement of affairs presented at a creditors' meeting yesterday in a Dublin hotel. The Irish Times was asked to leave the room before the meeting began. Mr Brendan Foster of Foster McAteer was appointed liquidator on Mr Reid's proposal. Mr Reid told the meeting that the firm, once led by former ACC Bank director Willie Horton, ceased trading due to the "highly competitive nature" of the software industry.
Mr Horton founded the company in 1993 with his wife, Elizabeth. Mr Reid, Dolmen Securities and Mr McDermott took a 50 per cent stake in the Horton Company in 2001 after Mr Horton approached Dolmen in 2000 to find a buyer for the company. After their initial investment, they advanced money to the company in the form of shareholders' loans. Mr Reid told the creditors' meeting that "sales fell considerably" in 2002. Mr Horton had responsibility for the development of sales and software until 2002 and resigned from its board in 2003. He now lives in France.
Mr Reid and Mr McDermott were the only remaining directors. Mr Reid said their decision to wind down the company was unopposed by all the other shareholders.
The most recent accounts, for the year to August 2003, indicate that Mr Horton had an interest-free loan from Horton but that the amount was in dispute. These accounts indicate the outstanding amount in 2003 was €61,902.
The statement says that Willie Horton and Lisa Horton are owed €12,500 each. The other unsecured creditors are: Mr John Higgins (€11,976); Friends First (€9,908); the Collector General (€8,201); KSI Faulkner Orr (€3,800); and UTV Internet Ltd (€127).
