The boss of the company that operates Aberystwyth marina has said there is a ‘high chance’ it will go into administration very soon.

Sources close to the Y Lanfa site speculate it could be as early as next week while it is rumoured the Marine and Property Group Limited, which owns four Welsh marinas and has been in administration since April, could be sold.

The group’s sole director, Switzerland-based Chris Odling-Smee, told the Cambrian News the recent insolvency action is voluntary and to protect its marinas, creditors and staff members.

It has now also emerged from a Freedom of Information (FoI) request submitted by the Cambrian News that the operating subsidiary, Aberystwyth Marina Limited, owes nearly £45,000 in outstanding rent and business rates to Ceredigion County Council.

This week, Burry Port marina joined Port Dinorwic in administration, leaving only Cardiff, Aberystwyth and Watchet Harbour in Somerset staving off the same fate.

Pressure continues to mount on the scandal-hit Marine Group which has not been paying staff salaries or pensions, faced a mutiny from berth holders and a string of legal disputes with contractors.

Mr Odling-Smee said: “They’re in administration to make sure everybody is protected, including employees – and quite a lot of salary payments have been going out.

“It’s not because something has changed on the balance sheet, it is so we can do everything in an orderly manner, to protect everybody – and then complete the refinance deal.

“Any balances outstanding with Ceredigion County Council are not to be ditched or not paid, they will all be honoured. I’m not in the habit of trying to avoid debt.

“It’s a complicated group, so the length of time it takes to go through it and pen it all down, that causes the pressure we’re all under.

“These things happen in business, and it doesn’t mean there isn’t a resolution that gets us back investing.”

He added that he expects to have ‘very significant’ good news soon but still could not set a time frame on executing the long-promised capital financing deal.

He said the action is for the good of the marina so it can come back out of administration in a ‘comfortable position’.

The long-awaited deal is with a UK-based business and is a ‘quasi-equity deal’ - a form of debt that shares some traits with equity.

But sources at the marina have suggested the administrators may sell the company off before this can be pursued.

This week it has been revealed that Aberystwyth Marina Limited owes Ceredigion County Council £23,500 in rent from as far back as March 2020.

The Marine Group owns a mixture of freeholds and leases at the marina, and harbour dues are paid to the county council to effectively lease the water space beneath the pontoons.

The FoI, which was returned by the council nearly a month-and-a-half after the 20-working day response target enshrined in law, also revealed the firm owes £19,745 in business rates from this financial year as well as the last.

We have contacted the county council once more for comment on developments at the marina as well as the vital finances the cash-strapped council is being deprived of by the firm. Since the Cambrian News’ first story in October last year, the council has repeatedly refused to comment or become involved.

The Cambrian News has asked the council whether it will take Aberystwyth Marina Limited to court or wait to see if an insolvency service takes up responsibility for repayment in the event of administration.

Sources and berth holders argue that the county council or the Welsh Government, which leases the Harbour House offices to the firm, could end the misery overseen by the Marine Group by withdrawing its lease holdings and forcing it out.

In late April, the firm sent out a statement to its berth holders at the Y Lanfa site, as well as those across its four other marinas in Cardiff, Burry Port, Watchet and Port Dinorwic, informing them its holding company had gone into administration.

Now it has been joined by an associated firm Bayscape Limited, which oversees the management of a block of luxury apartments next to Cardiff marina, has also gone into administration, while owing £109,000 to Aberystwyth.

Another of the firm’s subsidiary companies, Cardiff Marine Services, also narrowly escaped being wound up by HMRC over unpaid taxes.

Aberystwyth marina bosses recently suspended boatyard works and a highly anticipated dredging campaign.