IPA exclusive industry update from Insolvency Insider

IPA Insolvency Practitioner newsletter, September 2022

Contents

• Samantha Keen, President
• SARs Reporter Booklet
• HMRC information
• Help the IPA formulate its response to the Government Call for Evidence: Review of the Personal Insolvency Framework
• Join us for the final three IPA Roadshows this autumn
• Don’t miss the 14th Personal Insolvency Conference
• Celebrate the winners of the IPA Awards – book now for the Awards Reception on 9th November
• IPA Learning – next date announced
• Nominate someone who has made an outstanding achievement in the insolvency profession over the last year – Awards nominations open until 30th September
• Exclusive discounts on training from the IPA and our partners – make savings on essential CPD
• Membership and licence renewals
• NEW member benefit: save money on your airport parking with APH! (Member login required to view)
• Need new IT products? Claim exclusive IPA membership offers from Dell
• CPI training with BPP – special offer for IPA members (member login required to view)

A specially curated selection of the top stories for IPA members from Insolvency Insider Editor, Henry Louis. More information on all the stories and the link to subscribe to the newsletter is here.

Recent insolvencies

• Avonside Group Services Limited, the UK’s largest roofing contractor, which provided specialist roofing, energy and plumbing services operating through 39 branches across three divisions – Avonside Roofing, Avonside Energy and Avonside Plumbing – entered administration on 7 September. The Group, which employed 456 people, cited a period of disrupted trading during the pandemic, margin squeeze, the impact of underperforming divisions and financial reporting issues as the main drivers behind the administration. Joint administrators Kirstie Provan and Gary Shankland of Begbies Traynor have secured the sale of nine Avonside Roofing branches to an undisclosed industry buyer, preserving 79 jobs. The joint administrators were unable to find suitable buyers for the remaining Roofing and Plumbing sites within the Group, which are expected to be closed imminently.  The Group’s Energy division continues to operate out of its seven branches, and a sale is expected to be concluded in the near term.

• Hesper Farm Dairy Limited, a Skipton-based farm which was the first UK producer of Icelandic-style skyr yogurt products, entered creditors’ voluntary liquidation on 25 August. The company retailed its products through a number of independents and local branches of UK supermarket chains. However, the impact of increasing logistics costs, coupled with broader economic headwinds, meant that in recent months, a number of its contracts had become loss-making. The company ceased to trade prior to the commencement of the liquidation process, having made its employees redundant. Howard Smith and Rick Harrison from Interpath Advisory were appointed joint liquidators. Npif Tvc Debt LP has a registered charge against the company, in respect of which over £138,000 is still outstanding.

• Rowanmoor Personal Pensions Limited (RPPL), a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) operator authorised and regulated by the FCA, entered administration on 31 August. RPPL operates approximately 4,800 pensions, with assets under administration of £1.5bn. Adam Stephens and Chris Allen of Evelyn Partners were appointed joint administrators. Solicitors for the joint administrators are CMS, led by Julian Turner.

Insights

• Howard Morris and Tola Adeseye of Morrison Foerster report on a recent decision in which the High Court was faced with the insolvency of a company whose business was crippled by sanctions, which also caused legitimate concerns of breach in the administrators’ attempts to find the best solution for the company’s stakeholders.

• Tim Symes of Stewarts provides key takeaways from the City of London Law Society’s response to HM Treasury’s consultation on how best to regulate the failure of stablecoin companies using pre-existing insolvency legislation, including their views on a proposal to give the Bank of England a wide discretionary power to direct administrators and to consult with the FCA prior to seeking an administration order.

• Dr. Angelika Hellweger of Rahman Ravelli provides an update on the administration of Petropavlovsk, an English holding company with significant gold mining and exploration interests in eastern Russia, and explains why the sale of the company did not violate the UK sanctions regime.

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