A director of the Leeds based firm confirmed the figures to the Yorkshire Post in the wake of the £13m turnover contractor’s demise.

GWD ceased trading on August 4 and went into administration last week resulting in 46 redundancies.

Company secretary Duncan Syers said the group owed around £2.5m to suppliers and £2m to the Co-operative Bank.

Syers said: “Profits and turnover dropped sharply in the last two years and there is no way we could withstand that when we had such a lot of debt.

“The mechanical and electrical sector is on its knees. Because the main contractors are suffering they are passing down that pain to the subcontractors.

“There’s quite a lot of work around but the competition is impossible.

“People are working for less than cost. We are moving out of the industry now.”

A spokeswoman for administrator Ernst & Young added: “As the group has ceased to trade our strategy is to realise the group’s assets in order to achieve the best possible return to creditors.”