Calls to ‘send Philip Green the bill,’ as pension lifeboat fund begins Topshop assessment February 4, 2021 There have been fresh calls for the government to step in and demand retail tycoon Philip Green to plug Arcadia’s pension deficit, as the pensions lifeboat fund begins assessing the scheme. Earlier this week online retailer Asos said it had bought Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands from Arcadia, which fell into administration in [...]
British Chambers of Commerce calls for commercial eviction ban extension January 28, 2021 One of the UK’s largest business lobbies has called for the government to extend its commercial eviction ban beyond March as businesses continue to face strict Covid-19 restrictions. The British Chambers of Commerce said today that businesses desperately needed certainty beyond March, with the majority of British businesses still expected to be closed even when [...]
Germany warns of border closures amid fear of COVID-19 mutations January 19, 2021 By Andreas Rinke and Christian Kraemer BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Germany may need to consider border crossing curbs if other European countries do not act to halt the spread of the coronavirus, particularly its new, more transmissible variants. “We can do anything we like, but we will not succeed if [...]
Begbies Traynor acquires CVR Global in biggest buy yet January 18, 2021 Insolvency specialist Begbies Traynor has acquired CVR Global in a deal worth £20.8m. The move represents the largest insolvency acquisition Begbies Traynor has made to date, and provides a significant expansion of its scale in London and the South of England. The share price of the corporate restructuring firm jumped 5.5 per cent today following [...]
An increase in distressed investment expected January 18, 2021 In autumn 2020 we conducted our Restart Capital Survey of over 500 SME business and over 100 investors. There was a feared wave of corporate insolvencies with 35% of the business respondents expecting to be out of business within 12 months (and 43% of medium sized enterprises). 84% of the business respondents considered themselves distressed [...]
SRA backs down on high profile sexual misconduct case January 14, 2021 The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has decided not to appeal a High Court ruling that followed a high-profile case featuring jagerbombs, a magic circle law firm and alleged sexual misconduct. The SRA will not appeal a High Court ruling in favour of an ex-Freshfields partner who allegedly took advantage of a junior colleague. The SRA [...]
Government launches legal action against former Carillion directors January 14, 2021 Ministers have launched legal action against eight former directors of collapsed outsourcing giant Carillion, a move that could see them banned from serving as directors for up to 15 years. Nearly three years after the firm went bust, business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has brought proceedings against the former chairman, two chief executives, two finance chiefs, [...]
Commercial landlords call for insolvency rules overhaul amid ‘abuse’ of CVAs January 5, 2021 The British Property Federation (BPF) – the industry group representing landlords – has called for an overhaul of UK insolvency rules, claiming the Covid-19 pandemic has prompted “abuse” of restructuring proceedings. In a letter to corporate responsibility minister Lord Callanan, the BPF said the flexibility of the UK’s insolvency framework had led to the abuse [...]
Furlough extensions keeps redundancy rise to lowest since March December 23, 2020 The extension of the furlough scheme until the end of April 2021 appears to have slowed the rate of redundancies across the UK. New figures from the Insolvency Service show 36,700 redundancies were proposed in November, the lowest monthly figure since lockdown restrictions were introduced in March. The November total is around a fifth of [...]
New figures: Retailers in “significant distress” rises by 24 per cent December 22, 2020 Tens of thousands of retailers are now in significant financial distress as Tier restrictions take their toll. Some 39,232 retailers are believed to be in serious trouble, an increase of 24 per cent on the same period in 2019 and an 11 per cent jump on Q3 this year. Arcadia and Debenhams are amongst those [...]