It has been claimed that the creditors of a failed engineering company are facing a shortfall of more than £13 million.

Meanwhile, a report by the administrator reveals that a number of assets belonging to Lister Petter Ltd were sold to a connected party for £355,000.

The engine maker employed 151 people in Gloucestershire and had a turnover of £46 million. Neil Money of insolvency practitioner CBA was named administrator on 28 March by the sole remaining director, Patrick Comer. Lister Petter had been in business for more than 140 years.

It had offices in Cape Town, Florida, Dubai and Auckland, but its production centre was at Dursley in Gloucestershire.

According to a statement by the administrator, Lister Petter was affected by an industry-wide downturn.

“During 2012, the industry suffered a downturn which resulted in some of the company’s biggest competitors reporting declines in sales of 20-30%. The company suffered a similar decline, resulting in an 11% reduction in sales.

“During the last quarter of 2012, the company undertook a complete review of its operations world-wide, with a view to improving its competitiveness and ensuring that it could withstand any further deterioration in the market.

“Unfortunately, while these measures resulted in significant savings, they were not enough to counter the restriction on funding resulting from the change in the approach of the UK and European banking sector to global market risk.”