Nearly a third (30%) of South West retailers are at heightened risk of insolvency in the next 12 months, according to research by R3, the insolvency trade body. This is an increase of 5.5 percentage points  on the same time last year.

These figures are higher than the cross-sector percentage of businesses in the South West at higher than normal risk (26.5%). However, it is below the UK average insolvency risk for the retail sector (30.8%).

Alan Bennett, Chair of R3 in the South West and Partner at Ashfords LLP, comments:

The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) can provide very significant tax relief for investors in unlisted companies but a recent case in the First Tier Tribunal (“FTT”) shows how strictly the rules of the Scheme are interpreted.

One of the many conditions of EIS relief is that the shares issued to the investor must not have any preferential right to a company’s assets on a winding up. The requirement is included so that an investor cannot obtain the tax advantages of EIS relief while being shielded from the economic risk of the investment.

The facts

8 fathom . AUGUST 2015 Shipping Case Digest |by Andrew Chiew Ean Vooi and Jennifer James Ilango| MV “Sanko Mineral” With the current downturn in the shipping industry, shipowner insolvency is often a concern. In the MV “Sanko Mineral” (the Sanko Mineral),1 we find juxtaposition between in rem proceedings in the Admiralty court and cross-border insolvency proceedings. (i) Tokyo insolvency proceedings In July 2012, the owners of the Sanko Mineral, Sanko Holdings (“Sanko”) entered into reorganisation proceedings under the Corporate Reorganisation Act in Japan.

In March 2015 the coalition government issued a call for evidence to understand in more detail the employee consultation process when a company is facing insolvency. Last month the government issued its Response. This attracted 28 responses from organisations including law firms, trade unions, insolvency practitioners and professional bodies.

Real Estate Disputes Case Review 2015 In case you have missed the last 12 months’ most significant property cases, or would like a reminder, listed below is our monthly review of this year’s important cases. Briefing Real Estate December 2015 December 2014 Landlord protecting tenant’s deposits A landlord’s ability to seek possession of residential premises under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 was considered when the tenant’s deposit had not been protected in an authorised scheme at the time of service of the notice.

The government has today announced that the insolvency exception to the Jackson reforms will come to an end in April next year. This means that CFA success fees and ATE insurance premiums will no longer be recoverable in proceedings brought by liquidators, administrators, trustees in bankruptcy, and companies in liquidation or administration.

Insolvency practitioners (‘IP’s) tasked with dealing with an often failing business for the purposes of protecting creditors’ interests face a number of issues. The Regulator has sought to provide clarity in two particular areas that IPs come across in their work by issuing notes (the ‘Notes’) on these issues (September 2015).

Trustee Appointments

In a written statement this morning from Lord Faulks QC, Minister of State for Civil Justice, the government has announced that, from April 2016, insolvency litigation will no longer be exempt from what have been abbreviated to “the LASPO reforms”.

This article was first published by The Gazette and the full article can be found online here. 

An update on recent changes

1 October 2015 – A day of changes to insolvency law

The start of October 2015 brought about important changes in insolvency law, affecting both creditors and debtors alike. The most notable changes are detailed below.

Harmonising office holder claims in administration  and  liquidation