Utility Mix: Another firm linked to Yorkshire racehorse owner Grant Nicholson enters liquidation
Another company connected to a Yorkshire entrepreneur and racehorse owner has collapsed, The Yorkshire Post can reveal.
Utility Mix, which is owned by Grant Nicholson’s firm Pharaoh Capital, has gone into liquidation. It follows a winding up order being granted after a petition by law firm Addleshaw Goddard, a creditor of the company.
Mr Nicholson did not respond to requests for comment and Addleshaw Goddard did not wish to comment.
It follows the collapse of another Pharaoh Capital-associated business called Hortor earlier this year and the previous failures of Planet-U Energy Limited and Houli Dragonfly Limited, other businesses linked to Mr Nicholson.
It comes as Mr Nicholson, who last year was placed under a court order barring the sale of his house, car and two racehorses, seeks to raise £100m for his latest venture involving investment in solar energy projects.
Utility Mix, a letting agency technology platform, was taken over by Pharaoh in July 2023. Pharaoh Capital, which describes itself as owning and operating multiple firms in the energy and renewables sector, itself filed its annual accounts for the year to June 30, 2024 last week. It reported gross profit of £5.6m and turnover of £13m.
The published accounts state: “The company remains without credit or debt and has been bootstrapped using founding shareholders capital, something the company is proud of and cements its position as a sustainable entity.”
Mr Nicholson’s personal website sets out an ambition to secure millions in investment to put into solar energy projects “bootstrapped” to revenue raised by Pharaoh Capital. The website states that a firm called Inicio Energy Solutions facilitates solar power systems being installed onto commercial buildings.
Pharaoh was the ultimate owner of Leeds-based digital recruitment agency Hortor Limited, which was put into liquidation in June owing £2.4m to 88 trade creditors. Self-employed IT experts who had done work for Hortor are owed tens of thousands of pounds but administrators have said there is no money available to return.
Other businesses linked to Mr Nicholson have also previously collapsed while owing millions. Planet-U Energy Limited went into administration in 2021. Unsecured creditors were owed £4.7m but only received back 5.21p for every pound.
Houli Dragonfly Limited went into administration last year owing £14.2m to 42 trade and expense creditors. Mr Nicholson is owed £3.7m as a creditor.
A statement from Mr Nicholson on his website about the Inicio ambitions said: “We’ve pushed it as far as we can organically. We’re now raising £100m in debt to fund the next wave of installations - and that’s just the start. You get all this noise in the market - promises that don’t add up, tech that doesn’t scale. I like deals where everybody wins.”
The website adds “This isn’t his first rodeo. Grant’s spent over a decade in energy - founding, investing in and leading businesses. He’s seen the fluff and the fads. But what he’s building now is different; it works.”