20 February 2019: The bankruptcy of the founder of the Layezy Racing Owners Club, Mike Stanley, has hit the headlines this week and has highlighted the risks involved with one particular form of “investment” that often goes unreported – betting syndicates. Mr Stanley was declared bankrupt upon his own petition on 11 February 2019 and whilst...

15 February 2019: It is not uncommon for us to come across people who say they want advice on the financial position on their company when, in fact, they have already formed a view on their preferred solution. More often than not these solutions involve a process which would result in a fee income for...

30 January 2019:  The above statistics have been released this week and a summary of the key findings for 2018 are below:

• Company liquidations increased by 9.7% to 14,269, the highest yearly total since 2013.
• Creditors’ voluntary liquidations totalled 11,152 (a 9.3 % increase) and compulsory liquidations totalled 3,117 (an 11.1% increase). Maybe the increase...

17 January 2019:  Eight energy companies went bust in 2018.  That’s around 10% of the total number of firms.  Fortunately for the consumer, gas and electric supplies continue in these scenarios.  The energy regulator Ofgem will usually select a competitor to transfer customers to and credit balances are also protected.  

11 January 2019: When a company finds itself unable to pay its debts, the directors of that company should be alive to a shift in their duties. When a company is solvent, the director has a duty to maximise value for shareholders but, when a company is insolvent, the director’s duty is owed primarily to...

4 January 2019:  At BRI Business Recovery and Insolvency, we are fully aware of the numerous indicators that a company is suffering financial distress. Below are some warning signs that are easily identifiable and may provide an opportunity for you to be “one step in front” and get paid before a formal insolvency event occurs:

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21 December 2018:  A recent High Court case, LRH Services Limited (in liquidation) v Trew and others, serves as a useful reminder to directors that a declaration of solvency should not be made unless the board are satisfied that their opinion on the company’s solvency has been properly formed. In this case, the liquidator of LRH...

14 December 2018:  When a company is in a formal insolvency process, such as a liquidation or administration, the directors could be criticised for allowing certain transactions to take place in the period leading up to the liquidation.  For example, a payment to a connected creditor, within 2 years of the liquidation, at the time...

12 December 2018:  BRI Business Recovery and Insolvency’s Northampton office held their last networking event of 2018 with their Christmas lunch at the Church Restaurant. The event finished with a game of “heads and tails” with the chance to win a Christmas hamper, which was duly won by Mark Charteress of Handelsbanken who collected his prize...

10 December 2018:  As you would expect, HMRC present more compulsory winding-up petitions against insolvent companies in England and Wales than any other creditor. In recent months BRI have noticed a sharp increase in winding-up petitions being presented by HMRC against dissolved companies with the intention of them being restored to the register and then placed...

6 December 2018:  In 2016, HMRC were given greater powers to tackle tax avoidance and evasion. A recent report issued by the House of Lords claims that HMRC are undermining the rule of law and justice as they are failing to reach a careful balance between clamping down on tax avoidance and aggressive tax evasion...

30 November 2018:  Below are details from Companies House’s quarterly release about the number of companies on the register, newly incorporated companies and removals from the register.

• Between July and September 2018, there were 164,424 new incorporations and 131,407 dissolutions in the UK. The number of dissolutions has continued to remain consistently high during 2018...