A Royal endorsed maternity supplier goes into administration and an online fact-checker folds.

As you know, one of the key abilities in running a business is to be able to make your mind up and follow a decision through.  If only the weather shared your single-minded vision!

We’re more than halfway through 2025 so in the traditional summer downtime, it’s a perfect time to take stock on where you and your business are right now compared to where you wanted to be at the start of the year. 

It’s also a good time to take a few moments to yourself to catch up with all the interesting and important business and insolvency news stories you might have missed from the past seven days. 

So if you want to know why business insolvencies have reached a 12-month high; what directors can do if they’re struggling with high business energy costs; why a Time To Pay arrangement could help businesses with HMRC arrears and how you can give your business a summer boost – you can read all these stories and more at our advice centre page.

Seraphine

A Boutique maternity wear brand favoured by the Duchess of Edinburgh has announced that they are entering administration. 

Seraphine was formed in 2002 by Cecile Reinaud after she had designed outfits for several pregnant friends. Catherine, then Duchess of Cambridge, wore one of their pieces in the first official pictures of Prince George in 2013. 

They had one physical store in Kensington and sold online although its website has come down. 

They had previously been seeking additional investors to support the next phase of their growth but this hadn’t been forthcoming. 

As a result the majority of the company’s 95 employees had been made redundant and the company has ceased trading citing “rising costs and brittle consumer confidence”.

The Coconut Tree

A Sri-Lankan themed restaurant group has defaulted on its Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) payments to creditors and will be wound up at the end of the month. 

The Coconut Tree was formed in 2016 by a group of Sri-Lankan friends from a Cheltenham Pub to eight locations in the UK. 

They entered a CVA agreement with their creditors including HMRC last year but have been unable to maintain the payments after requesting a payment holiday in March this year which was granted but the extension has not proven successful.

The Coconut Tree’s Chelenham property was intended to be sold then leased back to the business to release equity but the company was unable to find a suitable buyer. Proposals to franchise out the company’s Bournemouth site also fell through.

Very Light Rail National Innovation Centre

A Rail Innovation Centre in the West Midlands has gone into administration raising questions about its future viability. 

The Black Country Innovative Manufacturing Organisation, who operate the Very Light Rail National Innovation Centre in Dudley, appointed administrators this week to assess the company’s financial position and “explore options to achieve the best possible outcome for all stakeholders.”

A statement from the administrators said: “BCIMO has been responsible for the important work undertaken at the Very Light Rail National Innovation Centre over the last few years. 

“We’re working with all stakeholders to ensure that the operation of the centre continues, and if possible, enable the BCIMO brand to be rescued. In order to achieve this, we’re now rapidly exploring options to sell the business and assets and encourage interested parties to come forward.”

Despite The Innovation Centre remaining open and continuing to trade, some redundancies have been made.

Kennelpak

A 50-year-old Nottingham pet food company has gone into administration with the loss of 51 positions. 

Kennelpak specialised in wholesaling, manufacturing and distributing a range of pet products including food, accessories and care items.  

Formed in 1974, the business was acquired by a private equity firm Endless in 2017 who sold the retail division – Pets & Friends – made up of 19 stores and 17 grooming salons last year. 

The administrators are exploring options for the sale of the assets of the company including selling the Yakers dog chew brand to Assisi Pet Care via a pre-pack deal that has secured two positions.

Electiva

A West Midlands private healthcare provider employing nearly 100 people has gone into administration. 

Electiva Hospitals Birmingham acquired Burcot Hall hospital in Bromsgrove last year after previous owners cosmetic surgery group Transform also went into administration. 

While administrators work through potential options, all patient operations and procedures have been suspended.

Logically

Britain’s biggest online fact-checking company has been sold to new owners in a pre-pack administration deal after losing contracts with major social media platforms. 

Logically was created in the wake of the 2016 United States presidential election and the Brexit referendum and employed 200 employees in the UK, India and the US. 

Founder Lyric Jain, a Cambridge engineering graduate, was motivated to create the service after the death of his grandmother in India who was persuaded to abandon chemotherapy treatment in favour of a “special juice”. 

The goal of Logically was to “tackle harmful and manipulative content at speed and scale, bringing truth to the digital world and making it a safer place for everyone, everywhere.”

Logically worked for Meta and TikTok under the Logically Facts brand and also developed an AI software product that analysed social media posts for disinformation but was criticised for working with the fact-checking unit of the Indian state government of Karnataka. 

This was criticised by the Editors Guild of India and other organisations who argued the system could be used to suppress dissent and free speech and threaten genuine independent journalism. This led to the loss of certification from the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) an industry body which doesn’t allow fact-checkers to be employed by state entities or political parties. Around this time the business lost its contracts with Meta and TikTok. 

New owners Kreatur is owned by Ashwin Kumaraswamy, a former director and investor of Logically. A spokesperson for Kreatur said: “Kreatur Ltd has acquired Logically’s core technology, brand and key assets as part of a pre-pack administration process. This transaction ensures continuity for all customers and preserves over 40 full-time roles.”

Andrew Paul Furniture

A major Nottingham furniture manufacturer that supplied well-known brands has ceased trading and made all 178 staff redundant as a result. 

Andrew Paul Furniture has been manufacturing sofas and chairs since 2010 but had recently issued guidance saying: “business has been very difficult and cutbacks in all areas have had to be made.” nothing that market conditions had been “difficult following the unprecedented years that followed the Covid period.”

There is still plenty of time for you to make any changes you feel are needed to reach your goals in 2025. 

Get in touch with us today and chat to one of our advisors about what options you have on the table – it’s usually more than you might realise.

The sooner you make contact, the sooner you can begin to make the rest of the year a memorable one for you and your business.