For months now the financial viability of a controversy-hit firm that operates four marinas along the Welsh coast has been called into question.

The Marine and Property Group Ltd has made headlines across the nation mainly due to the treatment of its beleaguered workforce.

Despite the firm posting healthy profits last year, many staff have not been paid in full or on time since last February and it has now been revealed they were denied pension contributions for most of 2022. Over Christmas, many couldn’t afford to buy gifts or fuel to drive to work.

The Cambrian News has been reporting on these developments particularly at Aberystwyth marina – where problems have seemed unending, despite repeated assurances from the firm’s directors that they are only temporary.

Marina manager Adam Knowles defended his team’s record during a visit from the Cambrian News – and, despite enduring their wages not being paid, said staff are ‘emotionally invested’ in the future of the 165-berth marina.

Pressure has been mounting on owner The Marine and Property Group Ltd after berth holders threatened not to pay mooring fees, equipment was impounded by bailiffs and legal disputes broke out with contractors. One of the firm’s subsidiary companies also narrowly escaped being wound up by HMRC last month and has until 14 June to pay any money owed.

A group, claiming to represent a significant proportion of the site’s 128 paying berth holders, called on the company to give up the freehold and allow Ceredigion County Council to take over.

In an anonymous letter they slammed the firm’s Switzerland-based director Chris Odling-Smee and took aim at what they described as the Y Lanfa site’s worsening condition.

In the letter, the berth holders refer to filthy toilets, bins overflowing, rat infestations, a lack of boat servicing, parts not being ordered, electrical outages, fuel shortages and safety concerns.

But Mr Knowles dismissed the letter as having been written by a few ‘agitators’ who do not represent the views of berth holders.

Mr Knowles - who manages the marina, the boatyard and Harbour House - felt most criticism was unfair on his hardworking team.

There remain only three full-time and three part-time members of staff in Aberystwyth – most of whom are still waiting for at least one month’s wages. There have been numerous resignations in the last few months. Mr Odling-Smee assured the Cambrian News salary payments would be up to date by the time this story was published.

But wages remained unpaid on Monday (17 April) afternoon.

Mr Knowles and his team seemed to feel under-supported by the Marine Group but also ‘vowed to do the best we can with little or no resources.’

He said: “We take pride in this marina and our on-site staff work extremely hard and do their best to keep all services immaculate and fully operational.

“Most of the claims in the letter are either not true or exaggerated – and our berth holders are very happy with the services on offer. But of course, we take the comments on board. I’ve been in and around the industry for quite a few years, having been harbour master at Limehouse and Poplar Dock marinas, and I moved from east London for this exciting challenge so I’m not about to give up.”

Though, with a smirk, he said he had not expected at the time to have to manage the Harbour House offices alongside his boatyard and marina responsibilities – which ‘brings up its own challenges’.

Unpaid staff, impounded equipment, furious boat owners and a fiery social media spat has left the reputation of the firm that operates Aberystwyth marina ‘near the point of no return’, the Cambrian News reported in late January.

The Marine and Property Group Ltd – which has owned the Y Lanfa marina for eight years – has been called on to ‘throw in the towel’ and give up the freehold after a catalogue of failures and controversies.

The nine members of staff in Aberystwyth haven’t been paid their full salaries on time in months – with most staff still waiting for last month’s wages.

Mr Odling-Smee said delays in completing capital deals are responsible for the hold up. Equipment including a tractor and a boat lift was impounded by bailiffs after High Court action against the marina over refunded mooring fees owed to a previous berth holder. The company, which posted £1.7 million earnings before taxes the year to December 2021, was ordered to pay £3,500 including legal costs and interest and did so, when equipment was released.

A source close to the marina also says it has deteriorated to its ‘worst condition since it opened about 30 years ago’ - mainly due to much-needed dredging being delayed for ‘more than two years.’

Despite concerns over the Marine Group’s finances, the latest accounts filed with Companies House last October show the firm – the parent company of nine other subsidiaries including Aberystwyth Marina Limited – posted before tax earnings of more than £1.7 million between December 2020 and December 2021 on a gross profit of more than £4.3 million.

It is now understood that all staff at Aberystwyth and the company’s other marinas in Cardiff, Dinorwic, Burry Port and Watchet Harbour were not being paid their pension contributions by the company during much of last year.

When asked about this, Mr Knowles said: “I’m not part of the pension scheme so I don’t have any information to offer.”

Mr Odling-Smee said: “We have a formal payment process with our pension provider. It’s all in order.

“The issues of 2022 are being addressed with monthly payments over time – and all this stems from one of our funders drawing in their horns in early 2022. So, we had a major credit line withdrawn.”

The delayed completion of a capital deal, which has long been blamed as the reason for not paying staff, is due in early May, he added. This will take the company back to where it was before losing the credit line, and also allow it to make further acquisitions of other harbours, Mr Odling-Smee continued.

While pointing out the improved facilities at the marina, Mr Knowles said: “Staff hope things will improve but we are nervous considering how long the current situation has gone on for. We’re told it’s being worked through.”

Since he joined in late 2021, Mr Knowles has installed new boatyard security, intruder alarm systems, HD CCTV, and new washer and dryer facilities. He says he has also improved lighting and safety, upgraded access control and modernised the bridge leading out to boats. New workshop facilities have been built and the boatyard has been upgraded and made safer. Harbour House’s reception area has also been renovated.

But he did accept that problems beyond his control had, at times, stifled the smooth management of the marina.

He said the owner has been in disputes with at least 10 contractors who are or were providing services at the marina.

“We can’t deny there have been times where there are non-payment and supplier issues – because that’s public knowledge,” he said.

“But we hope that’s now a thing of the past.”

At the end of last month, the Cambrian News received an email from Aberystwyth company Banner Plumbing who have had an office in Harbour House for more than five years.

It said: “The heating and hot water boilers have broken down and the gas has been capped off for safety reasons.

“We have also been asked to provide our own electric radiators or fan heaters, but as we pay for our own individual electric bill this will increase dramatically – and it will not solve the issue of hot water for washing after toilet use or kitchen use.”

Mr Odling-Smee confirmed the boilers are outdated and need to be replaced but are compliant with all safety expectations and have been issued certificates. Works to replace them will take six weeks.

He said: “Just to clarify there is hot water at Harbour House (albeit it is under powered), and the space heaters are being offered ahead of the new boiler installations.”

Mr Knowles confirmed ‘it was no secret’ there had been complaints about rubbish in the bins area ‘overflowing sporadically’ throughout the year – causing rat infestations and even someone being bitten. But this is no longer a problem, he said.

He said problems were caused through non-payment to a contractor.

Mr Knowles also acknowledged there had been a short-term issue with the cleanliness of Harbour House and the toilet and shower block after a cleaning company which was owed a ‘significant amount of money’ stopped working and took court action against the Marine Group.

But a part-time cleaner took over responsibilities and told the Cambrian News she is hoping to go full time soon.

Port Dinorwic marina is also said to be beset with problems.

Before Christmas, a JustGiving page was launched to support staff ‘through the winter’. Around that time, a source close to the north Wales marina told the Cambrian News staff are ‘furious’ with some not having been paid on time for months. Of 11 staff at Dinorwic, more than half had resigned.

It is now believed it is being run by a ‘skeleton team’, lockgates and bridges have fallen into disrepair and mooring buoys have been confiscated by Gwynedd Council due to non-payment.

In response to Cambrian News questions, Mr Oldling-Smee said “lock gates are Grade II listed and as such renovations are not straight forward. The team conducted some renovations in February and we are scheduling further works in the autumn. We believe that water retention will now be improved across the summer. The bridge had a fair amount of work conducted in 2022 with steel bracing cut out and replaced. This too is Grade II listed.”

He said the company in the process of costing further works for later in 2023. In terms of staff, he said there’s “pretty much a full team at every location. There are a few posts that we will recruit in Port Dinorwic as well as other areas as part of a planned expansion”. He said the company is addressing estuary moorings as it does every year.

Due to the financial instability of the company, parts cannot be ordered - which has provoked anger among some berth holders. But Mr Knowles says an arrangement has been reached by which they order their own parts, and the labour will be conducted by marina staff.

After being questioned about the high turnover of senior staff at the company, in particular three financial directors who are thought to have resigned in the last year or so, Mr Knowles declined to comment.

The Cambrian News has since been made aware of two founding directors - father and son Kerry and Drew McDonald - resigning together on 31 March (the last day of the previous financial year), leaving Mr Odling-Smee as the sole director of the company, a Companies House entry shows.

Mr Odling-Smee said: “This is an administrative point really.

“Kerry has long since retired and Drew, for deeply private reasons, wishes to focus on matters closer to home.

“We will be making some board appointments shortly and will announce these in due course.”

Referring to those who wrote the anonymous letter, he said: “Two or three trolls have a vested interest in trying to stir the pot and put things on Facebook.

“What they’re waiting for is for you to then publish an article that they then keep amplifying – and therefore the cycle goes on.

“There are people in the team whose eyes are rolling every time you keep printing it.

“The very people who troll are the people who don’t pay us or are slightly obstinate clients.

“We’re just like everyone else. If there was a restaurant that had bad customers, they’d just refuse to book them a table – but here it seems to get more airtime.

“We haven’t really chucked anyone out – maybe two or three (across all marinas).

“If people didn’t like what we offer, they wouldn’t be piling in. We’ve got a waiting list of people who want to come in. We’ll be updating our berth holders when the dredger arrives in about two weeks for a major campaign.

“Once that’s done, everything as far as Aberystwyth marina is concerned is tickety boo.

“Every marina has major expansion plans and we’ll be getting all of them to be five stars.”

Heavily delayed intense dredging is also set for Burry Port in neighbouring Carmarthenshire – with two dredgers set to begin ‘much-needed’ work later this month.

At Burry Port, it was revealed in a Freedom of Information (FoI) response that the firm owed rent of just over £137,200 to Carmarthenshire County Council – dating from 2020 to 2022 – and £83,000 in unpaid business rates between 2018-19 and 2022-23.

Mr Odling-Smee said a repayment plan had been agreed with the council and that the outstanding amount was coming down.

“It is tough, but we are not quitters, and we will make it work,” he said.

He also told the Cambrian News: “Nobody has got Burry Port right. Before us Carmarthenshire council didn’t - which is why we said we’d give it a crack. If you think about it, it’s all our money going into it for everybody else – and we’re doing this because we think it’s the right thing to do for the community. It’s not like we’re extracting money, it’s the other way round.”

The company posted on Facebook last week: “Our water injection dredger, CMS Innovation, will travel to Aberystwyth Marina mid April to start the spring dredging campaign. She will carry out dredging over 18 tides.

“Our team will need to move customer boats during this time, so we ask for your patience and cooperation with this.”

The Cambrian News has sent an FoI request to Ceredigion County Council asking how much money, if any, the Marine Group owes in rent and unpaid business rates.

As visitors piled into the site’s newly renovated car park in Aberystwyth, one of the remaining boat engineers passionately rebuked the claims made by berth holders in the letter and called for them to support staff.

A couple of berth holders, who did not want to be identified, spoke out during the visit in support of the efforts of Mr Knowles and the staff since he took over management – saying there have been ‘clear improvements’. Visitor numbers are the best they’ve ever been, Mr Knowles said.

Mr Odling-Smee remains defiant and insisted the company’s difficulties would soon be coming to an end. But he’s promised this before. And staff will understandably be worried this is just another false dawn.