News

Recent insolvencies in the UK’s food manufacturing sector reveal the complexities of the supply chain that ends with tough-minded supermarket chains and stricken hospitality groups. Scotch Frost of Glasgow, an importer and distributor of high-quality produce and...

A character in Ernest Hemingway’s first novel asked a much-misquoted question: “How did you go bankrupt?”. The famous reply was: “Two ways, gradually and then suddenly.” The forthcoming Autumn Budget may quicken the pace for many already entering the gradual phase of...

Buy-to-let landlords are heading for the door, despite huge rental demand driven by high mortgage costs. Red tape and tax are being blamed for the exodus, which is forcing a chronic shortage of homes for tenants. The period of relatively cheap mortgages for both...

Insurance rates for cyber cover are significantly down on last year, squeezed by competition and new providers in a growing area. Yet, despite a number of high profile attacks on companies, SMEs in particular are still slow to recognise the value of protection against...

Ahead of Bonfire Night 2025 and as part of our monthly series ‘Tried and Tested: Recipes You’ll Love’ we are excited to share with you our surprise recipe of the month - Yorkshire Parkin, one that Jo Milner, our Managing Director at Buchler Phillips, has a special...

Is the day of reckoning almost here for The Walking Dead? As far back as four years ago we highlighted the huge rise in ‘zombie companies’, businesses that had been artificially propped up by Covid loans and low interest rates on core borrowings that predated the...

Despite earning millions during their careers, an alarming number of professional footballers in the UK go bankrupt within a few years of retirement.  It’s the flip side of success in ‘the beautiful game’ that I recognise only too well as both an Insolvency...

Sometimes, giving up and calling it day is simply the right thing to do – and timing is critical. It’s a common misconception is that Insolvency Practitioners (IP) exist only to close businesses that go bust or run out of money. This is by no means always the case,...

The UK Professional Services sector isn’t necessarily enjoying the easy ride that observers in industries more directly hit by economic pressures might think it is. Major companies in some of those industries will have turned to external management consultants,...

The fall into administration this month of health and beauty chain Bodycare is yet further evidence that there is no sign of the post-Covid bloodbath on the High Street ending anytime soon. That’s certainly the view of UK retailers as they scale back investment plans,...

In Aid of Macmillan Cancer Support Last month, in our Tried and Tested recipe series, we delighted in Caroline’s Normandy Apple Cake. This month, our journey takes a wonderfully tangy turn thanks to Bunty, the wife of our George Rishi, consultant at Buchler Phillips....

Forgive me for writing a more whimsical briefing than usual, but it is uncanny how frequently financial crises have been heralded by a general return from the summer vacation. The Great Crash of October 1929; the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 that came to a head...