News

There are 5.5 million Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the UK, representing three-fifths of the employment and around half of turnover in the UK private sector. That’s a big chunk of the nation’s total business activity, but with an average turnover of less than...

The Bank of Mum and Dad, one of the fastest growing financial institutions of recent years, has expanded into interim accommodation services – AKA live rent-free at home indefinitely. The dramatic rise in young people returning to their pre-university bedrooms, even...

Office life in city centres is likely to be quieter in August,  even in those firms where staff don’t come in every day. But while many left town for good after Covid, surprised by how easy it had been to operate remotely, those based on daily relationships and...

The day of reckoning looms for The Walking Dead. In December 2021 our newsletter highlighted the huge rise in ‘zombie companies’, businesses that had been artificially propped up by Covid loans and relatively low interest rates on their core borrowings. Many of these...

There is life after insolvency for some businesses – as distinct from the companies containing them – but directors continuing to trade in effectively the same way yet in a different guise must tread very carefully. ‘Phoenixing’, after the mythical bird rising from...

Recent days have seen the fall into administration of a Cornwall theme park, a Hampshire golf club and an independent cinema chain. They are the tip of the iceberg of UK leisure businesses, none particularly well known, facing an existential squeeze in revenue from...

The news that London’s Canary Wharf financial district is losing both global banking giant HSBC and Clifford Chance, one of the world’s largest law firms, is further evidence that changing working patterns are making businesses think twice about their office needs and...

The 11-year Director’s Disqualification for the former CFO of construction giant Carillion, which collapsed in 2018, is an extreme example of the Insolvency Service’s appetite for taking action against errant bosses. On a scale of two years to a maximum 15, the...

Seven years have now passed since the momentous referendum which heralded the UK's departure from the European Union. Time enough, if opinion polls are to be believed, for an intensifying sense of buyers' remorse. Indeed after a series of false dawns - from an...

The fall into administration of major logistics group Tuffnells, citing inflationary pressures and tougher competition, has brought into sharp focus the challenges faced by this critical link in the supply chain. There are several factors beyond the logistics...

Funny how most business costs leave a company’s bank account at fixed days through the month, yet income for goods sold or services supplied seems to land when debtors feel like sending it. Of course, it isn’t funny at all, especially in these times of soaring energy...

The recent fall into administration of a 313,000 sq ft office block in London’s Canary Wharf confirms fears that investors in the capital’s commercial property market may wait longer than expected for recovery. Formerly the London head office of Bear Stearns before...