HMRC seeks to wind up a Petra unit over £5.65m
The winding-up petition against Petra Diamonds UK Treasury, advertised in the London Gazette, is listed for a court hearing on 14 October. It lands a day after the board opened a strategic review including a possible sale of assets.
By The Diamonds Desk
What changed
A tax arm is in court. HMRC advertised a winding-up petition against Petra Diamonds UK Treasury for £5,647,811.32 of corporation tax. The hearing is listed for 14 October, a day after the board opened a strategic review.
What it means
- If you hold Petra paper: The petition names a non-operating subsidiary, not Cullinan. The company is assessing the implications for its financing.
- If you buy rough from Petra: Tenders run from Cullinan, which the company calls its principal operating asset.
- What this is not: An insolvency of the group. One subsidiary is petitioned and the hearing has not happened.
Key figures
| Petition sumcorporation tax owed HMRC | £5,647,811.32 |
|---|---|
| Court datehearing listed in London | 14 Oct 2026 |
| Review openedday before the petition | 1 Oct 2026 |
| Net debtat 30 June 2026 | US$322m |
| Mines listedCullinan operating, Finsch rescued | 2 |
Source: Petra Diamonds RNS, LSE: PDL · filings of 1 and 2 October 2026 · read via Investegate, 2 October
The petition names a non-operating unit
Scope is narrow. HMRC advertised the petition in the London Gazette against Petra Diamonds UK Treasury, a wholly owned indirect subsidiary. The filing states it owns and operates none of Petra's mining operations.
Interest never arrived. The liability arose on interest accrued on a receivable due from Ealing Management Services, an affiliate. The filing states that interest was never received.
| Item | Figure | Date it covers | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| HMRC petition, PDUK Treasury | £5,647,811.32 (£5.65m) | year to 30 June 2025 | 2 Oct 2026 |
| Court hearing listed | 14 Oct 2026 | — | 2 Oct 2026 |
| Strategic review opened | 1 Oct 2026 | — | 1 Oct 2026 |
| Consolidated net debt | US$322m | 30 June 2026 | 28 Jul 2026 |
| Net debt a quarter earlier | US$298m | 31 March 2026 | 28 Jul 2026 |
| Quarter-on-quarter rise | US$24m | to 30 June 2026 | Carat Capital |
| Revolving facility drawn | ZAR1.75bn (US$107m) | 30 June 2026 | 28 Jul 2026 |
| Revenue, FY2026 | US$206m | year to 30 June 2026 | 28 Jul 2026 |
| Carats sold, FY2026 | 2,292,540 | year to 30 June 2026 | 28 Jul 2026 |
| Revenue per carat, FY2026 | about US$90 | year to 30 June 2026 | Carat Capital |
Notes on this table
Petition sum, hearing date and tax year from the 2 October RNS; £5.65m is that sum rounded, as the headline carries it. Review date from the 1 October RNS. Balance-sheet and sales lines from the 28 July Q4 and FY 2026 operating update. The US$24m rise is Carat Capital's subtraction, 322 − 298. Revenue per carat is Carat Capital's division, 206,000,000 ÷ 2,292,540 = 89.86; the numerator is rounded to the nearest million in the filing, so the quotient is stated as about US$90 and no closer.
Two filings in two days
The review came first. On 1 October the board said it had decided to undertake a strategic review after consulting first and second lien creditors. It will consider a possible sale of assets.
The chair left. José Manuel Vargas stepped down as chair and director on 1 October. Lerato Molebatsi takes the chair on an interim basis.
Outcome is open. The 1 October filing says: “There is no certainty as to the outcome of the Strategic Review.”
The balance sheet was already tight
Debt rose. Consolidated net debt reached US$322m at 30 June 2026, from US$298m three months earlier, a rise of US$24m.
Goods sell cheap. Full-year revenue was US$206m on 2,292,540 carats sold. Dividing gives about US$90 a carat.
Finsch is in rescue, not sold
Boilerplate lists two. Both October filings describe interests in two underground mines and name Cullinan as the principal operating asset. Each states Finsch entered business rescue on 29 May 2026.
What to watch
- 14 Oct 2026Court hearing on the petition against PDUK Treasury. Tests whether the subsidiary is wound up, dismissed or adjourned.
- After 14 Oct 2026Any filing on the financing implications the company says it is assessing.
- Jan 2027US$6m of cash interest deferred from July 2026 falls due. Tests the liquidity the review exists to address.
The story so far
Go deeper
What would change this call
Payment or withdrawal of the petition before 14 October. The sum is small against group net debt, and a petition settled once the tax is paid removes the court date without changing the strategic review.
How a winding-up petition works
A creditor advertises a petition in the London Gazette and the court lists a hearing. Advertisement lets other creditors support or oppose it. At the hearing the court may wind the company up, dismiss the petition, or adjourn. The petition binds only the company named in it.
Method
Both October filings were fetched to raw bytes from Investegate and searched for the exact strings printed here. The 2 October filing (59,941 bytes) returns £5,647,811.32 twice, “14 October 2026” once, “30 June 2025” once, “London Gazette” twice and “29 May 2026” once. The 1 October filing (60,820 bytes) returns “1 October 2026” once and “strategic review” thirteen times; the quoted sentence is present verbatim. The balance-sheet figures come from the 28 July Q4 and FY 2026 operating update (486,599 bytes), where US$322 million returns three hits, US$298 million two, US$206 million three, 2,292,540 three, ZAR1.75 billion three and US$6 million two. Both the US$24m rise and the about-US$90 per carat are Carat Capital's own arithmetic on those filed figures, shown in the table note, not quoted from any source. No currency conversion is attempted: the petition is in sterling, the balance sheet in US dollars and the facility in rand, and each is printed in the unit its own filing uses. Petra's announcement index on Investegate (84,655 bytes) was read to establish that the 2 October filing is the company's newest, and it lists “Update on Finsch Business Rescue Process” on 7 August and 10 June 2026 — Finsch is in a rescue and asset-sale process, not sold to a buyer, and no filing read for this piece states otherwise.
Sources
- Petra Diamonds Limited — Update in relation to Petra Diamonds UK Treasury Limited (RNS) 2 October 2026
- Petra Diamonds Limited — Strategic Review and Directorate Change (RNS) 1 October 2026
- Petra Diamonds Limited — Q4 and FY 2026 Operating & Business Update (RNS) 28 July 2026
- Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) — announcement index 5 October 2026