IPA exclusive industry update from Insolvency Insider
IPA Insolvency Practitioner newsletter, February 2025
A specially curated selection of the top stories for IPA members from Insolvency Insider Editor, Dina Kovacevic. More information on all the stories and the link to subscribe to the newsletter is here.
Recent Insolvencies
London Community Credit Union, a credit union whose membership covers residents and employees who live, work or study in the London boroughs of Hackney, Haringey, Islington, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest or the City of London, entered administration on 22 January. The credit union’s regulatory bodies have also declared it to be in default, meaning that savers are entitled to receive their deposits back. James Sleight and Stratford Hamilton of PKF Littlejohn Advisory were appointed joint administrators and reassured members that their savings deposits will be returned by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (up to the limit of £85,000 per individual). The credit union’s directors have been assisted by Foot Anstey.
Sto Limited, an external wall insulation specialist based near Birmingham, entered administration on 17 January. The company is the subsidiary of a German parent which was set up in 1954 and employs more than 5,700 people across almost 40 countries. Stuart Preston and Julie Tait of Grant Thornton were appointed joint administrators after the German parent filed a winding up notice against Sto Ltd, which itself employs about 50 people. Zurich Assurance has a registered charge against the company.
Home Curtains (UK), a 35-year-old Nottinghamshire-based soft furnishings company, entered administration on 17 January. The company, which supplies products to retailers and direct to consumers, said it was impacted by the rising costs of materials, shipping and energy, alongside reduced consumer spending and inflationary pressures. Dean Nelson and Nicholas Lee of PKF Smith Cooper were appointed joint administrators and said that trading will continue over the coming weeks whilst either a purchaser is found for the business and its assets, or the substantial quantity of quality stock is wound down and sold. The administrators have already successfully negotiated a significant sale for a proportion of the company’s available stock and urge any other interested parties to contact them. The Royal Bank of Scotland has a registered charge against the company.
Insights
Oliver Wheeler and Gawain Moore of Walker Morris explore positive developments in the mid-market space for restructuring plans and provide examples of cases where a restructuring plan may be a viable option for companies in the mid-market.
The team at Dentons summarise key features of the new sanctions reporting requirements for insolvency practitioners, and reveal that a broad new ground enables OFSI to grant a licence to allow transactions and certain other prohibited activities to be undertaken if a company is under insolvency protection.
Paul Keddie and Thomas Birt of Macfarlanes and Allana Sweeney, Gary Moffat and Fiona Carlin of Burness Paull share key points to consider when proposing a restructuring plan in Scotland and other lessons learnt from the Dobbies restructuring plan, including judicial guidance on meetings of creditors/members which will be of relevance to both Scottish and English companies.