All the news you might have missed is right here
Maybe you haven’t been so excited since your childhood Christmas Eves. Not being able to sleep so you can go back the next day, open up and see colleagues and customers you haven’t physically seen in three months.
Alternatively you might be dreading having to make the changes required in order to open; a lot of your custom might have moved to your website so you might be wondering if you need to open up at all.
That’s if you can open – many businesses are still awaiting permission and clearance to open their doors if they’re in the hospitality or restaurant sectors. Official word cannot come quickly enough for some.
No matter what situation your business finds itself in – you can take your mind off it for a few minutes and catch up on all the latest administration and insolvency news that’s happened in the past two weeks that hasn’t created many waves elsewhere.
Aldo walks away from UK stores
The Canada-based footwear retailer has gone into administration and closed its five UK stores. It will still trade online and has eight stores in Ireland whose future is unclear.
David Bensadoun, CEO of the Aldo Group, said: “It is a difficult decision to close our stores in the UK market, but it is unavoidable given the current business environment and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We thank our associates, customers and vendors in the UK for being a part of our story since 2002.”
Boris Johnson’s old school closes
Ashdown House Preparatory School in Sussex, which had been in existence for 180 years and counts Prime Minister Boris Johnson as one of its alumni is to close its doors at the end of term.
Tom Beardmore-Gray, chief executive of the Cothill Trust which runs the school said: “The harsh reality is that the impact of the Coronavirus has changed everything.
“In recent years the Trust has invested heavily in the school, and there has been a relentless drive to keep the school moving forward. Given the challenges the sector as a whole is now facing, it is not possible to maintain this support.
The school charges fees of nearly £30,000 a year but was projecting to being less than a third full next year following a decline in the number of international boarders and fewer parents taking up places.
Seven private schools in the UK have already closed this year and 10% of the sector says it might not be able to reopen for the new term in September.
Major Manchester PR Agency files own deadline
SKV Communications, the multi-award winning PR agency and one of the top rated agencies in the North West that counted the government among its clients has initiated a Members Voluntary Liquidation.
The company remained solvent but owner and director Andy Spinoza who also formed the influential City Life magazine in the city said: “current and projected business conditions have called the future viability of the business into doubt. We are left with no other option but to manage a controlled winding-up”.
The business remains solvent and all creditors will be paid in full but will cease trading on June 30th.
Pumps run dry for pub supply business
The enforced closure of the pub sector has had numerous negative effects and proved too much for a manufacturer of traditional hand-pulled beer pumps.
England Worthside, known as EWL, based in Keighley, had grown in recent years to become the leading UK supplier of high-quality cask ale equipment to the drinks dispensing industry but the Covid-19 lockdown proved financially terminal.
A lot of coverage focuses on direct job losses and closures within an industry when the supply and supporting network also suffers disproportionately too.
Yorkshire Civil Engineering firm collapses
Athena Civil Engineering, once one of the fastest growing companies in Yorkshire has announced it is going into administration.
They were working on over 30 house building projects in the UK when the Covid-19 lockdown came into effect causing them to cease work and unfortunately have been unable to fund themselves until the sites can reopen and work can recommence.
Shop fitter folds after bailout bid rejected
Stoneforce, a multi-million pound firm of shopfitters have begun liquidation proceedings after being turned down for a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan.
The firm applied based on future work but because of the nature of the lockdown were unable to give precise timings as to when work and payments would begin again.
Director Duane Harvey said: “As much as the bank accepted the work was there, when they asked when’s it going to start, we couldn’t give them an answer because we didn’t know what was happening.
“If the jobs had been started then we could have got the support and potentially found a way through this.”
The company which won awards for its overhaul of The Department Store in Brixton in 2017 also sought private investment but was unable to secure it for similar reasons of uncertainty of work restarting.
As the lifting of the lockdown comes into sight, so does the prospect of having to restart payments to creditors who will be eager to hear of your plans to service them.
If this is just one of many issues facing your company then you should get in touch with us first.
We’ll arrange a free, initial virtual consultation with you to help identify what the main issues you’re worried about are and how you can address them promptly and properly.