Category: Liquidation, Pre-Packs & Phoenix

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Insolvency Liquidation, Pre-Packs & Phoenix

Directors be warned!

A business no longer has to be in formal insolvency before the Insolvency Service can investigate directors’ abusing their powers over Covid loans.

Since December 2021 the service has been given powers to crack down on company directors who dissolve their firms to avoid making repayments on government backed loans.

These powers are retrospective to allow conduct that took place before the law comes into force to be investigated.

So far the service has banned three individuals from acting as company directors, for dissolving their companies to avoid paying back Covid support loans.

Directors can be banned for up to 15 years under the new powers.

Last year, before the new powers were granted the service successfully petitioned the Courts to wind up five limited companies that have been involved in abusing government loans, introduced to help businesses during the pandemic.

Directors should be aware of their legal obligations to run their businesses according to the various laws and obligations outlined in law.

Directors’ duties in an insolvency are included in various Acts, including, but not limited to the Insolvency Acts 1986 and 2000, the Enterprise Act 2002 and the Company Directors’ Disqualification Act 1986.

See our LinkedIn post here.

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Cash Flow & Forecasting Insolvency Liquidation, Pre-Packs & Phoenix

Don’t give up!

According to PwC the number of UK firms filing for insolvency in the first quarter was broadly similar to the same period in 2021.

But they also reported: “when the smallest firms and companies that were liquidated when solvent are stripped out, the figures show those filing while insolvent more than doubled in the first quarter…”  (our italics).

But why would a solvent company go into liquidation?

Well, there could be a number of reasons, perhaps related to family or lack of successors.

However, given the number of economic headwinds, including inflation, supply chain problems, labour shortages and energy costs, as BDO has reported business optimism has fallen by 4.82 points to 101.93, for the second consecutive month, perhaps it should not be so surprising that patience is wearing thin.

Don’t throw in the towel just yet!

We would advise businesses to hang on in there, especially if they are still solvent, conditions will eventually turn around as they always do.

It can’t hurt to ensure that you take regular breaks to refresh yourself, perhaps go for a long walk, take time out with family, or indulge in a hobby.

Even for those that are insolvent there are alternatives to liquidation.

Firstly, get a grip on tracking the company finances with our free downloadable Cash Management tool.

Perhaps your business could pivot to meet these needs and at the same time strengthen its own future for growth?

Give us a call or message if you would like to talk to someone about restructuring possibilities for and investment in your business.

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Banks, Lenders & Investors Insolvency Liquidation, Pre-Packs & Phoenix Rescue, Restructuring & Recovery

Directors’ duties and liabilities survive insolvency – a new court ruling

directors' dutiesA recent High Court ruling on directors’ duties after insolvency has said that they cannot buy assets from their liquidated companies at below market value.
The ruling was made after solicitors for the company’s second liquidator who took over the case, Stephen Hunt, argued that Brian Michie as former owner and director of the construction company, System Building Services Group Ltd, had “unfairly bought a two-bedroom house from the original insolvency practitioner involved for £75,000 less than it was worth, 18 months after his company went out of business”.
The company went into administration in July 2012, and then into a creditors’ voluntary liquidation in July 2013 following which Mr Michie bought the property in Billericay, that was owned by his company, for £120,000 in 2014 from the previous liquidator Gagen Sharma.
The case revolved around whether director’s duties survived the insolvency of a company and specifically those relating to the purchase of assets post insolvency.
Directors have specific obligations where a company becomes insolvent. Under the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 86), they must act to minimise further potential loss to creditors. Under the Insolvency Act 1986, the directors must recognise their duty to the company’s creditors, including current, future and contingent creditors.
While the case did not involve a pre-pack, where the business and assets of an insolvent company are sold by its Administrator to a new company, in this case the assets were sold by an insolvency practitioners back to the director and it has implications for such a sale since it was argued that the director knew the real value of the assets and knowingly bought them for less than what they were worth known as a ‘sale at undervalue’ which is a breach of the IA86.
Mr Hunt has been quoted as saying that: “This wasn’t a pre-pack case in the normal sense, but it was a predetermined sale of assets back to the director through a company that the insolvency practitioner assisted in forming.
“The moral case for pre-pack sales to directors has often been questioned, but this decision opens up the possibility of a clear legal difference between a third-party sale and one to the existing owners.”
I would strongly advise company directors to familiarise themselves thoroughly with their duties and liabilities.
You can download a copy of my Guide to Directors Duties here.

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Banks, Lenders & Investors General Insolvency Liquidation, Pre-Packs & Phoenix Rescue, Restructuring & Recovery Turnaround Voluntary Arrangements - CVAs

Zombie companies have a number of options for achieving growth

Zombie companies will at some time need to confront three fundamental problems before they can achieve growth: 1. how to fund growth; 2. how to repay debt; and 3. how to service interest when rates rise.
Provided that a zombie company can generate profits on an EBITDA basis (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization), it has a number of options for resolving these problems as a pre-requisite for growth.
Options include negotiating a partial debt write-off, a pre-pack sale via Administration or a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA).
From the suppliers’ viewpoint a growing business offers the prospect of increased profits from increased supplies. From the existing lenders’ viewpoint profitable growth means that non-performing debts can be repaid. From a new investor’s viewpoint, new money can be used to fund growth rather than replace existing debt. From the company’s viewpoint growth inspires confidence in the future prospects of the business. 
Given the benefits, it makes sense for zombie companies to get help from restructuring experts who are familiar with these options.

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Banks, Lenders & Investors General Insolvency Liquidation, Pre-Packs & Phoenix Rescue, Restructuring & Recovery Turnaround

Pre-packs under scrutiny again?

Baker Tilly’s purchase of the debt-laden accountancy firm RMS Tenon has put the use of pre-pack administration under the spotlight again. It follows other recent high profile pre-packs such as Dreams and Gatecrasher and the debate about Hibu as publisher of Yellow Pages.
While a pre-pack may be a useful tool for saving a struggling business by “selling” its business and assets to a new company immediately upon appointment of an Administrator, the consequences to unsecured creditors and shareholders can be catastrophic as it normally involves writing-off most of their debt and all the investors’ equity. The only beneficiaries are normally banks and other secured creditors who control the process through their appointed insolvency practitioners.
In the case of RMS Tenon, which had more than £80.4 million of debt, unsecured creditors and investors are reportedly furious that their entire debt and shareholdings have been wiped out, the more so because Lloyds TSB, its only secured lender, allegedly forced the sale by refusing to grant a covenant waiver while at the same time agreeing to finance Baker Tilly’s purchase of the assets of RMS Tenon.
While the sale has safeguarded the jobs of around 2,300 RMS Tenon staff, and this is surely to be welcomed in the current economic climate, there are plenty who will once again question pre-pack administration. It may be legal, but is it an acceptable and ethical method of rescuing a business in distress? There are other restructuring options that offer a better outcome for creditors and shareholders, such as Schemes of Arrangement and Company Voluntary Arrangement for instance. But all too often these are not pursued.
As the UK economy proceeds along its halting path to recovery the last thing that is needed is short-term and self-interested behaviour by secured creditors.

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General Insolvency Liquidation, Pre-Packs & Phoenix Rescue, Restructuring & Recovery Turnaround

Falling Confidence Among SMEs Supports Evidence of a Long L-Shaped Recession

Recently released insolvency figures show relatively little change year on year, suggesting that the debate about whether the recession would be a V-, U-, W-, or an L-shape Is now over.
It is four years since the economy collapsed and the evidence is piling up that it is flatlining. Whatever the technical definition for coming out of recession may be (ie two successive quarters of growth), a growth of 0.2% for the UK economy means it continues to bump along the bottom of an L-shaped economic decline, whether it is called a recession or not.
Had the recent decline followed the pattern of previous ones the numbers of insolvent companies would by now be climbing noticeably, as they are generally held to do when an economy is on the road to recovery.
However, the latest CBI quarterly survey shows a sharp decline in confidence among small and medium sized businesses, reporting flat domestic orders in Q3 and export orders down by 8%. They expected domestic orders to fall by another 4% in the final quarter, no growth in exports and were indicating intentions of reducing their stock holdings – hardly suggestive of any optimism there.
Perhaps the most interesting feature of the just released quarterly insolvency figures is the noticeable increase in the number of Company Voluntary Arrangements (CVAs) relative to the numbers of companies in Administration as going concern formal insolvency procedures. Compared to the same quarter last year, CVAs rose by 29.6%, while Administrations rose by only 6.3% perhaps reflecting the adverse publicity over the use of Pre-Pack Administrations.
Many commentators are predicting a lot of insolvencies lining up for the end of Q4. Since a rise in insolvencies traditionally indicates the emergence from recession, perversely, this suggests that they are being optimistic rather than pessimistic.
But if the economy doesn’t recover and there is a rise in corporate insolvencies, this will be truly damaging for the UK. There is a huge difference between insolvency to restructure a business to prepare it for growth and insolvency to close it down.
Continuing low interest rates and no discernible evidence of banks or other creditors really piling on the pressure, nor any sign of the restructuring that normally indicates the bottom of a recession, plus the plummeting confidence of the country’s SMEs, suggest that the economy will bump along the bottom Japanese-style for the foreseeable future at best or will decline further at worst.

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General Insolvency Liquidation, Pre-Packs & Phoenix Rescue, Restructuring & Recovery Turnaround

Saving insolvent companies needs both a restructuring and business plan

Following the demise of Rok and Connaught, a third national building maintenance company, Kinetics Group, has gone into administration with 500 employees being made redundant leaving a skeleton staff of 50 to deal with its five sites.
Insolvency practitioners Begbies Traynor were appointed as administrators in July and attribute the demise to the loss of key contracts and delays in payments by customers.
The background to this dramatic failure seems to be rather complicated. In June 2011, there appears to have been an attempt to save the company through acquisition of the business and assets of a number of its own subsidiaries by a newly formed subsidiary SCP Renewable Energy Limited (SCP).
It is not yet clear if the acquisition took place before or after these companies were placed in liquidation or administration and a further complication is SCP Renewable Energy Limited’s status, referred to by the administrators as a newly incorporated company owned by Kinetics. But this name is not listed at Companies House.
In my view it is clear that the June restructuring was flawed. What exacly was the role of the various stakeholders? Did they ensure that viable restructuring and business plans were in place as a condition of their approving the acquisition?
Is this an issue with the sale of business and assets by an administrator, where the administrator is not responsible for the ability of any purchaser to run or fund the acquired business?
Administrators rarely save a company as a going concern, so their only real objective is to maximise realisations for the benefit of creditors.

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Banks, Lenders & Investors Cash Flow & Forecasting General HM Revenue & Customs, VAT & PAYE Insolvency Interim Management & Executive Support Liquidation, Pre-Packs & Phoenix Rescue, Restructuring & Recovery Voluntary Arrangements - CVAs

Many companies for sale turn out to be insolvent

Many companies are being listed for sale through brokers with high price tags based on very tenuous valuations, where the owners have been deceived into thinking they will be paid a huge amount for their equity.
However, on closer inspection it turns out that many of them have a Time to Pay arrangement with HM Revenue and Customs or are in arrears with the Revenue and are stretching their trade creditors. All too often they are insolvent but don’t realise it. 
This over indebtedness is becoming a serious concern among potential investors because often the company they want to buy is operationally a great business and for trade buyers a perfect fit with their existing businesses. The problem for investors is how to protect their own interests and avoid contamination.
Very often, even experienced executives lack the knowledge and methodologies for assessing a company they want to buy, let alone knowing how to sort out the indebtedness once due diligence has revealed its extent.
In my view, potential investors can work with incumbent directors to reach agreement with creditors that protects all parties by enhancing the prospect of a return to sellers and avoiding cross contamination.
One method I use is an investment, conditional on approval of a CVA by creditors thus leaving finance agreements and any liabilities in the target company. It also allows creditors’ issues to be addressed where they are not normally consulted in a pre-pack. For the investor, this can be structured to give them security and control if they so wish.
As a rescue specialist I would advise owners trying to sell a business in difficulty to employ their own turnaround advisers before putting the business on the market.

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General Insolvency Liquidation, Pre-Packs & Phoenix Rescue, Restructuring & Recovery Turnaround Voluntary Arrangements - CVAs Winding Up Petitions

Guide to Insolvent Liquidation and When and How it is Used

Insolvent Liquidation involves a formal process to close a company. It happens when a company is insolvent, which means it does not have enough cash or liquid assets to pay its debts and the directors have concluded that continuing to trade will be detrimental to creditors.
There are four tests (set out in the Insolvency Act 1986) any of which can be used to establish whether a company is insolvent.  The tests don’t necessarily mean that the company will have to close down, although often directors assume that it must.  However, there are remedies that could save the company if at this stage it calls on a licensed insolvency practitioner or business turnaround adviser, who would carry out a review of the accounts, the assets including property, stock and debts and the liabilities. With help from the adviser, the company can develop realistic plans for it to survive and trade out of insolvency.
Once it is decided that the company is insolvent, and cannot be rescued, it should be closed down in an orderly fashion which means via a liquidation process. This involves the company’s assets being turned into cash and used to pay off its debts to creditors.
There are two types of liquidation, one compulsory and one voluntary and both are legal processes.
Voluntary liquidation through a Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation (CVL) is when the directors of the company themselves conclude that the company can no longer go on trading and should be wound up.
Normally they would engage an insolvency practitioner to help guide the directors through the formal procedure, which involves a board meeting to convene shareholder and creditor meetings.
The nominated liquidator normally sends out notices to shareholders and creditors having obtained their details from the directors and helps directors prepare the necessary formal documentation that is legally required.
The nominated liquidator must be a licensed insolvency practitioner who provides his consent to act which must be available for inspection at the meeting.
If the directors have left consulting too late they can then find themselves facing the court winding up procedure rather than having the option of a CVL.
Compulsory liquidation is triggered by a creditor formally asking the courts to have a company closed down by submitting a Winding Up Petition (WUP. In this case the court decides whether or not to support the petition by ordering that the company be wound up (compulsorily liquidated).
Upon a winding up order being made, an officer called the official receiver is automatically appointed to take control of the company to oversee the process of closing it down.  The official receiver may, if he/she wishes, appoint a liquidator to assist in dealing with recovering and selling any assets.

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General Insolvency Liquidation, Pre-Packs & Phoenix Rescue, Restructuring & Recovery Turnaround

Guide to Creditors Voluntary Liquidation (CVL) from K2 Business Rescue

Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation is a process by which the directors of an insolvent company can close it down in an orderly fashion without involving a court procedure. There are four tests of insolvency laid down in the Insolvency Act 1986.
Insolvency does not necessarily mean that a company should be closed down, but depends crucially on whether or not continuing to trade will enable the company to emerge from insolvency and will improve the position for creditors.
If the company does continue to trade, the directors should seek professional advice as they have a legal obligation to act in the best interests of the company’s creditors and if the company eventually does have to be closed down they will need documented proof of this or they risk becoming personally liable for the company’s debts.
The CVL procedure is defined by the 1986 Act and involves a board meeting at which the directors formally agree that the company should cease to trade. The next step is to seek shareholder consent. At least 75% of the shareholders must approve the directors’ proposal and at least 50% must approve the nominated liquidator. The shareholders may disagree and wish to appoint new directors to save the company.
Documents must be prepared including Statutory Information on the company, a history of the business, historical financial information of the company, deficiency account, a statement of affairs and a list of creditors.
A creditors’ meeting is also convened to confirm the nominated liquidator or appoint the creditors’ own nominee, who will need approval by at least 50% of the creditors. All nominated liquidators must be licensed insolvency practitioners who have provided consent to act, which must be available for inspection at the meeting.
The liquidator’s duties include dealing with assets which are normally sold, accessing creditors’ claims and distributing surplus cash to creditors following a strict order of legal priority. They must also investigate the accounts and activities of the company and in particular look at the transactions prior to the company being placed into liquidation. Having done this they report to the Insolvency Service on the conduct of the directors.
A CVL is a very efficient procedure with the liquidator taking over responsibility for dealing with creditors and closing down the company. It also demonstrates that the directors were responsible in carrying out their duties by closing down the company in an orderly manner when they believed it should cease to trade.

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General Insolvency Liquidation, Pre-Packs & Phoenix Personal Guarantees Rescue, Restructuring & Recovery Turnaround

Guide to Pre-Pack Administration from K2 Business Rescue

Pre-pack Administration is a tool for saving struggling businesses that are in severe financial difficulties but are potentially sound. Pre-packs allow the business idea to be preserved, retaining customers, suppliers and goodwill, without all the start-up costs normally associated with a new business.
Essentially it means “selling” the business to a new company immediately upon appointment of an Administrator, the preparation for sale being carried out prior to appointment.  The sale requires additional scrutiny if the directors and shareholders of the new company are the same as in the previous company to prevent any abuse.
Insolvency practitioners use pre-pack administrations to achieve the swift sale of a business where it is not appropriate for them to trade the business as a company in administration. This way the business can continue to trade without disruption.
Reasons for not trading a company in administration include avoiding the administrators’ costs and the risks of trading a company in administration. It is often argued that key stakeholders such as customers, staff or suppliers will not remain loyal to a company in administration.
A pre-pack is only one form of administration. In normal administrations there are a number of possible outcomes including return of the company to the control of the directors, such as following a restructuring or a Company Voluntary Arrangement, or the administrator can sell the business and assets ahead of liquidation. In the pre-pack form assets are sold immediately on appointment of the administrator, who does not then trade the company.
Pre-packs also have huge advantages in allowing the new company to trade without the burden of the previous company’s debt, almost without disruption keeping valued staff and equipment, contracts, relationships and customers. 
While a pre-pack is often regarded as controversial because the creditors are faced with a done deal, the counter argument is that a swift sale of the business assets is the best opportunity to preserve value and therefore ensure the best possible return for the creditors who might otherwise get nothing or very little.
However, to prevent abuse, especially as the creditors do not get a chance to object, before a company can use this method it must show it has taken advice from an insolvency practitioner who must ensure the business and assets are independently valued and not sold below their value.

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