Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Oasis and Warehouse have fallen into administration, with over 202 jobs lost. A further 1,800 employees will be furloughed as the Oasis, Warehouse and Idle Man brands continue to trade online in the short-term. The company operated 90 standalone stores and more than 400 concessions in department stores. Icelandic bank Kaupthing, which owned the business,…
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UK Finance has announced that a total of £1.1 billion in coronavirus support funding has been loaned to 6,020 SMEs so far. The total proportion of firms receiving payouts is less than one in four of those who made a claim, with 28,460 applications submitted. Analysis shows that just 2.6% of the money available has…
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With the lockdown underway for the foreseeable future, new research has revealed a large number of small businesses are facing significant problems without the right technological infrastructure in place. A survey by Hitachi Capital Business Finance found small businesses were more likely to consider the prospect of working from home indefinitely a major challenge than…
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The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has received more than 500 emails to a special hotline set up so that individual real-life examples of those not covered by the proposed Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) could be highlighted to those running it. SEISS was announced by the Chancellor last month as part of the government’s…
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Half of the UK’s high street retailers could go bust by the end of the summer as a result of the coronavirus crisis according to a new report by global professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal (A&M), in partnership with Retail Economics. The report found that the companies could deplete their entire working capital should the COVID-19 lockdown continue…
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Data from the London Gazette, the UK’s official public record for insolvencies, show the appointment of receivers, liquidators or administrators surged to 3,736 between March 10th and April 9th, compared with 2,495 in the same period last year. Established companies that have fallen over in the period include Debenhams, upmarket restaurant chain Mark Hix and…
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Results from the third British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) Coronavirus Business Impact Tracker have revealed that the majority of businesses responding to the survey have now furloughed a proportion of their workforce, and are awaiting funds from the government’s Job Retention Scheme to enable them to pay staff. 66% of survey respondents have furloughed staff in anticipation of scheme going live with more than half of firms (59%) have three…
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New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that total asset finance new business (primarily leasing and hire purchase) fell by 7% in February 2020 compared with the same month in 2019. The IT equipment finance and plant and machinery finance sectors reported new business up in February 2020 by 10% and…
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The latest CBI financial services survey shows that Britain’s financial services sector suffered a drop in profits and increase in bad debts before the coronavirus crisis-prompted lockdown. The report, based on a poll of 103 firms, saw 27% report a drop in profits versus 24% which reported a rise. Some 12% of firms said they…
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The British Business Bank has announced that it has approved four new lenders for accreditation under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) – The Co-operative Bank, Cynergy Bank, OakNorth Bank and Starling Bank. Following their approval, each lender will be putting in place the operations required to start lending under the scheme and will…
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The insolvency litigation market has increased by 50% in the past four years to £1.5 billion per annum, with litigation funding fast catching up with ‘no-win no-fee’ arrangements, research has revealed. The research report by Professor Peter Walton of Wolverhampton University found that the value of insolvency claims has risen by 50% to £1.5 billion…
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The Finance Leasing Association (FLA) has called on the Government and the Bank of England to take urgent action to support the non-bank lending market. New figures to be released next week by the FLA will show that FLA members provided almost £141 billion of new business in the twelve months to February 2020, 2%…
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High street store, Debenhams has appointed Geoff Rowley and Alastair Massey of FRP Advisory as administrators, with the chain describing the move as a ‘necessary step’ to protect it from the threat of legal action which could see the firm pushed into liquidation. In a statement, the company said “This move will protect Debenhams from…
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