Liquidators have reportedly unearthed a £1 million shortfall following stockbrokers Fyshe Horton Finney’s collapse into administration.

In March it was announced that FHF, whose roots in Birmingham date back to 1896, had entered voluntary administration.

The firm had been financially troubled for some time and its most recent accounts showed losses of £565,701 for the year to June 2011.

But new reports in the trade press say clients are now facing fresh uncertainty over missing money and a lengthy wait for holdings to be valued.

Administrator Harrisons has been combing the books for months and it is understood that concerns have now been raised that investors have been unable to trade on their accounts without paying fees to the book’s new owner, Redmayne-Bentley.

Leeds-based investment management and stockbroking firm Redmayne Bentley recently announced an agreement adding five new offices, including Birmingham, to its nationwide branch network.

A string of new staff appointments, all former FHF executives, was unveiled by Redmayne-Bentley following the firm’s acquisition of £300 million worth of business assets from FHF.

David Clements, a director at Harrisons and one of the joint special administrators, told the trade press that liquidating Fyshe had proved a ‘complex’ process, but he reassured clients they would soon receive their valuations and that Harrisons had been ‘completely transparent’ throughout.

He was quoted as saying the position on client cash was still being clarified, but when it came on board as administrator the firm discovered ‘there should have been more money than there was.’

Claims totalling £17.5 million had come in versus a balance of £16.5 million, Mr Clements said.

The Post revealed in April that more than 14,000 clients, including many in the West Midlands, had been reassured their investments were safe.

Reports in the trade press had claimed Fyshe had amassed combined losses totalling £3.4 million since 2009 on the back of soaring operating costs.

The firm scaled back its Leeds arm in June 2011, refocusing around Birmingham.