THE firm that operates Watchet Marina has dismissed concerns about its future after a company owned by the same group narrowly avoided being wound up.

A petition from HMRC to wind up Cardiff Marine Services Ltd - a subsidiary company of the Marine and Property Group which operates the marina in the Welsh capital - was listed in The Gazette, the official public record.

But, after being due to appear in the High Court in London, the firm’s Switzerland-based director Chris Odling-Smee dismissed fears and revealed it had been granted a temporary reprieve.

He told the Free Press’s sister paper, the Cambrian News: “On the basis of our business credentials and funding lines in place, HMRC has agreed to adjourn any legal proceedings until 14 June at least, and to allow us to simply make payment.

“As we have repeatedly stated, we have funder support. This includes funding for capitalising the business, investing in current locations and, in due course, supporting further acquisitions. Business trading is solid, and salaries will be quickly brought up to date.”

Mr Odling-Smee was also asked about the concerns of berth-holders and community group Friends of Burry Port, another of the company’s four Welsh marinas, but described the allegations as “simply incorrect”.

There are 165 berths at the marina, of which 128 are filled. A group of berth-holders, claiming to represent a significant proportion of these, said: "We feel that the rest of the group will follow the same insolvency route over the coming weeks or months through bad practice and mismanagement.”

 A spokesman for Friends of Burry Port marina said: “The group is centrally managed and financially interlinked, so the concern is that if HMRC has had to take this action on one of the group perhaps they will be looking at the others as well.”

At Burry Port, it was revealed last week in a Freedom of Information 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.