Fears grow for Firstnet as insolvency practitioner is engaged

Several sources claim the Leeds-based VAR is telling suppliers it is entering administration

Firstnet Solutions is set to enter administration, with FRP Advisory the potential insolvency practitioner handling the case, according to several CRN sources.

Multiple sources have told CRN that the Leeds-based VAR has been informing suppliers that it is heading into administration, while staff have also been told there are doubts over wages they are owed.

CRN was told that FRP Advisory has been appointed as administrator and when CRN called FRP they named the employee handling the Firstnet case. However, that employee refused to confirm that FRP has been officially appointed as Firstnet's administrators.

Last month, CRN obtained details of a £48,777 county court judgment (CCJ) on Firstnet from 4 January 2018.

When asked about the circumstances around the CCJ at the time, Angie Cusworth, director at Firstnet, told CRN: "The CCJ is in the midst of being resolved, unfortunately it was mistakenly overlooked due to the Christmas break. You will see the CCJ will be removed soon.

"It's a really exciting time for us, we're on the cusp of some very exciting blue-chip customer contracts in the datacentre."

However, it is now understood that Firstnet's problems have worsened and FRP Advisory will soon be officially named as administrator.

In March last year, Firstnet opened its first datacentre - a 400-rack facility which was previously an NHS datacentre. The datacentre was supposed to give Firstnet its own cloud, colocation and disaster recovery services, with the firm previously outsourcing these capabilities to third parties.

It also told CRN at the time that it was looking to hit £50m in revenue in five years' time and employ another 100 staff.

One source claimed that expenditure around high-spec kit for its datacentre was instrumental in Firstnet's downfall.

Firstnet Solutions did not reply to CRN's request for comment.