Vinance collapsed owing £5m worth of wine

When wine investment company Vinance went into administration in November last year, it owed £5 million in wine to its 1,300 investors.

A report for administrators Herron Fisher says that Vinance had £3m worth of wine on its book when it collapsed, so there is still an estimated shortfall of more than £2m.

The report claims that Vinance’s records were incomplete and that the company had used investor’s money for the day-to-day running of the business, and not to buy wine.

The report said: “The company sometimes received money from clients, but did not immediately buy the wine and the money was used for day-to-day expenses.”

The report is also critical of Vinance’s record keeping, adding: “The company’s were inadequate and the position of each customer’s investment was not properly recorded.”

Vinance was put into administration in November last year, and the company’s client database was sold to Albany Vintners for £30,000 later that month.

With the administrators only able to estimate what is owed to each creditor, a creditors’ meeting will be held in London today.