Birmingham Winding Up Petition

An Aim-listed architecture firm Archial, with an office in Birmingham UK, went into administration.

Winding Up Petition Help In Birmingham

WARNING: If you have been served with a Winding Up Petition then you need to seek professional advice. "Neglect is a Disease which will Rot and Erode everything you have worked for".  Moe Nawaz

 WINDING UP PETITION AND THE CONSEQUENCES

My name is Moe Nawaz. As a well known author and consultant on insolvency and business turnaround. I am here to help and guide you with your issues relating to winding up petitions against your company.  You have a number of options open to you. You can pay the money owed before the court date and get the case dropped or fight it if you believe it to be worth defending. On the other hand if you do nothing and the debt is not paid following the presentation of the petition, then the court will make a winding up order (“the order”) against  your company (to shut your company down).
 
As a winding up petition is a court led procedure, various rules come into play once the petition has been presented. It is best to speak to an expert and find out what your options are, each case is different but there is always option and solution open to you. I will be more than happy to go through the various options open to you with regards the winding up petition. I can be contacted on free phone 0800 24 0800.

The presentation of a winding up petition has serious consequences for the directors and the company, but before we go any further let me give a case study of what can be achieved with professional advice. How To Stop A Winding Up Petition

It is important that you take professional advice to reduce your personal and the business liabilities right now before it is to late.

_ Liquidation proceedings can be ‘stayed’ (i.e. stopped), permanently or temporarily, on the application of the liquidator, the official receiver, a creditor or a shareholder or the liquidator in proceedings opened against the company in another Member State of the European Union. If liquidation proceedings are stayed permanently, the directors usually regain control of the company. An application to stay the liquidation proceedings can be made at any time after a winding-up order has been made.

_ Liquidation proceedings can be ‘stayed’ (i.e. stopped), permanently or temporarily, on the application of the liquidator, the official receiver, a creditor or a shareholder or the liquidator in proceedings opened against the company in another Member State of the European Union. If liquidation proceedings are stayed permanently, the directors usually regain control of the company. An application to stay the liquidation proceedings can be made at any time after a winding-up order has been made.

THE winding up order issued against Plymouth Argyle by the taxman was officially dropped in the High Court this morning.
A hearing was held in the High Court in London today when Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs asked Mrs Registrar Barber to dismiss the winding up order, which she agreed to do in proceedings lasting less than a minute.
No details of the debt were given in court.
Had the club been compulsorily wound up, it would have effectively handed over the club’s affairs to an Official Receiver.
His job would then have been to do his best to ensure that debts were paid off by selling any assets available and then bringing business to a close.
Last month The Herald revealed how Plymouth Argyle had been issued with a winding up order over unpaid debt.
The football club had settled the debt, which is understood to have been connected to the recent transfer embargo imposed by the Football League.
The Herald understands the transfer embargo, lifted at the start of January, was imposed because the club had outstanding debts relating to transfer fees.
These fees attract tax, and therefore HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) moved in with a winding-up petition.
It is understood the bills were outstanding because there had been a delay in receiving a £1million loan from the club’s Japanese-based directors Yasuaki Kagami and George Synan.
Speaking to The Herald last month, Lisa Billard, of HMRC, said: "HMRC’s strict duty of confidentiality means we cannot comment on the tax affairs of individual businesses.
"Applying for a business to be wound up is a very last resort and we do all we can to agree time to pay in order to keep viable businesses in business
 

 By Shane Phelan Investigative Correspondent

Saturday January 30 2010

EAMONN LILLIS is set to net more than €350,000 from the winding up of the business he ran with his wife Celine Cawley.

Lillis (52) put the couple’s successful television advertising company, Toytown Films, into voluntary liquidation shortly after Celine’s death in December 2008.

The couple each had a half share in the business. Celine’s share passed to her sister, lawyer Susanna Cawley, after she died.

Company documents seen by the Irish Independent reveal that once the company’s debts are settled it is expected to have a surplus of €718,000, which can then be distributed to the shareholders.

As Lillis had a half share in the company, it is likely he can expect to receive 50pc of the funds left over.

The surplus is mainly due to the healthy bank balance Toytown had at the time of Celine’s death.

The company, which was based at Windmill Lane in Dublin, had €636,000 in its bank accounts, with a further €95,000 cash in hand.

Successful

It was also owed almost €18,000 from trade debtors at the time. And further sums, totalling almost €55,000 were expected to be accrued in tax and redundancy refunds. Its total liabilities, including all outstanding bills and liquidator fees, stood at just €91,700.

Liquidator James Clancy did not return calls seeking comment.

Celine’s death and the charging of Lillis with her murder meant it was virtually impossible for the company to continue.

Toytown was behind some of the most successful television advertising campaigns of the past decade.

Its clients included Guinness, Carlsberg, Heineken, Coca-Cola, the National Lottery, O2 and McDonald’s, among other big names.

One of its most memorable advertisements was for Walker’s crisps, featuring Roy Keane in a leprechaun suit.

The firm was set up by Celine in 1990 and she was considered the driving force behind its success.

Her father, solicitor James Cawley, and her brother, Christopher, were also directors of the company in the early 1990s, but are no longer involved.

Lillis joined the company in 1992 and has been a director ever since.

Although company documents show they had an equal share, Celine earned much more than him. Lillis’s trial heard that his wife’s salary was €500,000, while his was just €100,000.

- Shane Phelan Investigative Correspondent

Irish Independent

MUMBAI: Troubled pharmaceutical company Wockhardt has told its foreign lenders that it will not sell any assets as long as winding-up petitions filed by them are being heard by the Bombay High Court.

Wockhardt wrote letters to the overseas creditors on Saturday and Monday confirming that it would not sell any of the assets of its domestic and foreign subsidiaries though the company’s promoters, the Khorakiwalas are free to encash their personal assets, if they want to, said a person close to the development. The person, who did not wish to be named, said the letters sent by Wockhardt was in line with an oral direction from the court on Friday.

When contacted, the Wockhardt spokesperson said the company’s chairman Habil Khorakiwala could not be reached for comments. ET had reported last week that the Khorakiwala family had reached an agreement to sell nearly 18 acres at Mulund for Rs 200 crore. They would be free to carry out this transaction.

Late last year, Wockhardt’s foreign unsecured creditors, including Calyon, Barclays Bank, Singapore-based DBS Bank as well as several holders of the company’s foreign currency convertible bonds, filed so-called winding-up petitions in the Bombay High Court after the company failed to pay them. Winding-up petitions are often filed by lenders, who want the court to order the liquidation of a company, as they have not been paid.

The foreign lenders had also opposed a corporate debt restructuring (CDR) plan agreed between Wockhardt and its Indian lenders on the ground that it was skewed in favour of domestic institutions. The CDR, initiated by Wockhardt in July last year, seeks to reduce interest rates on its debt and extend the repayment period.

In the high court, the overseas creditors also sought a blanket stay on Wockhardt’s plan to sell its assets, including its nutrition business to the US company Abbott. The Indian pharmaceutical major had reached an agreement to sell the nutrition business, but could not execute the deal, as the lenders moved the Bombay High Court.
On the foreign financial institutions litigating in the HC, DBS Bank has reached an out-of-court settlement with the company.

Justice SJ Kathawalla, who was hearing the case, on Friday asked Wockhardt to clarify with its foreign lenders, which assets it could sell. He also observed that if the lenders had any grievance regarding Wockhardt’s undertaking, they could approach the court on February 1 and he would pass an order in the case.

Since the foreign lenders were satisfied with the letters sent by Wockhard over the weekend, they did not approach the court on Monday. The case will now come up for hearing on Thursday.

While Wockhardt is being represented by Majmudar & Co, the foreign banks are being represented by Juris Corp and FCCB holders by DSK Legal.

Portsmouth’s application to strike-out a winding-up petition from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) was rejected by a High Court judge today. According to the Guardian, the club’s position was that the GBP 7.5 million in the VAT portion of its bill is very high. Mr Justice Newey did not agree with this argument. A Judicial Communications Office spokesperson said: "At the High Court today Mr Justice Newey dismissed an application from Portsmouth City (sic) Football Club Limited for a winding up petition to be struck out. A further hearing to consider HMRC’s winding up petition will take place in due course."

This is a set back for Portsmouth and there are concerns that the February 10th hearing could result in the Premier League club being forced into administration. Mark Jacobs, the executive director of Portsmouth, indicated the club’s dissatisfaction with the Premier League yesterday when he said, "The Premier League are withholding the balance of monies they owe us because they believe that we still owe other football clubs money. We have now paid off the three UK clubs. We have agreed with Rennes and Lens to accept certain payments now and then defer a schedule of payments going forward. We are finalising the agreement with Udinese. The total amount that we directed the Premier League to discharge and pay these clubs is approximately GBP 5 million. So there is a net balance due to the club approaching GBP 2 million. We cannot see how they can keep the money and also continue with the embargo. We believe the embargo should be lifted immediately and that we should be receiving money from the Premier League. Today we have delivered a letter to the Premier League asking to pay back the money. We have called for a meeting tomorrow and if this fails or we don’t get our money back then we shall exercise the powers of arbitration. Once again we are being treated as the poor relations and the black sheep of the family. We would like them to use their discretionary powers in a positive fashion rather than negative fashion against the club."

Portsmouth and owner Ali Al-Faraj have been battling a financial crisis for some time now. The club has been late in paying players and staff thrice, its share of the Premier League TV money has been withheld and it is facing a transfer embargo. This current disagreement with HMRC may well be the most critical in terms of the club’s future.

How To Stop a Winding Up Petition

There are a number of procedures to stopping a winding up petition once it has been issued. You can of course defend it if you feel you have ground to do so, but I will tell you from my personal experience that the winding up petitions are only issued as a last resort if all else has failed for the creditor who is trying to get their money from your company.

 You can of course pay the amount on the winding up petition that is one way of avoiding the petition.

 Other ways which we have used may a times as indicated in this short case study below.

 Case study of company “G” 

Company “G” a health & vitamins business online sales of £1.6m had run into financial difficulties with loss of orders and declining sale due the competition. They also lost 2 key staff members which did not help matters. With debts in access of £300,000 plus and increasing daily the bulk of the debt was Inland Revenue for PAYE and VAT. So it was only a question of time before some one set the ball rolling to wind the company up. HMRC were the first to issue a winding up petition jointly for PAYE & VAT the petition was for £176,000.00  

The directors after a week of trying to talk to HMRC , banks, solicitors and the company’s accountants they were no where near to the solution than they were before the winding up petition.  One good thing that did come out of their meetings with the company accountants was they were given our contact details to see what if anything we could do to help them.

 We were called in to see if we could see a way forward for the company and see what could be done about the winding up petition. After 2 days analysing the company’s books and records, we were able to identify a major asset that the company was unaware which it had. The asset was the customer database of over 500,000 customers who had made a purchase but only 10% were coming back for repeat orders. The company had been spending a fortune paying Google for pay per click for new customers and not doing anything with customers which they already had.

 Along with our legal team and an insolvency practitioner who was willing to work along side the company with a view of differing some of the Insolvency Practitioners fees and also we were happy to differ our fees subject to the proposal.

 We got the courts and the creditors to agree to place the company in to administration so that we could restructure the company and save jobs and return a higher dividend to the creditors via our route than the compulsory winding up procedure.

 A new company was set up to run the ongoing sales and also a new structure was placed. Priority was to churn as many of the company’s old customers rather than finding more new customers. We assisted in producing a 30 page catalogue with the fast moving lines and posted to the existing customer base within 3 months the company was able to see how much cheaper it was to sell to customers that had already purchased rather than finding new customers.

 Company “G” was liquidated after the administration had run its course and the creditors were paid out £0.45p in every pound owed.

 Further Support

 You should make use of this time to seek professional advice on the options open to you and your company, you can call the business helpline on 0800 24 0800 for free and confidential advice before it’s to late.

Most suppliers, investors and staff try to get their money by issuing a claim. But you can issue a winding up (company) petition or a bankruptcy (individual) petition instead.

Winding up and bankruptcy are also ways of enforcing a judgment after a claim has been won, in an effort to actually get your money. However, unpaid tax and wages take priority over other debts for any of the debtor’s available funds.

How winding up works

• It applies to a company rather than an individual.
• After the winding up the company ceases to exist.
• If the company is insolvent at the time, not all the creditors get paid in full.
• Rules apply and each creditor gets a percentage of what they are owed.

How bankruptcy works

• Bankruptcy applies to a person or a general partnership. If it is a general partnership, all the partners are made bankrupt.
• The assets are sold and the proceeds are paid to the unpaid creditors.
• Each creditor gets a percentage of what they are owed.

The threat and how it works

Often the mere threat of winding up or bankruptcy is very effective. But if the customer still refuses to pay you might consider the following steps:

1. A statutory demand, from a legal stationer or solicitor, or downloadable, can be prepared and issued by the creditor without necessarily using a solicitor.
2. The demand must be delivered to the customer, preferably by hand or by post, using the special delivery or registered mail services. In the case of a registered company, the statutory demand should be served at the registered office.
3. On receipt, the customer has a fixed number of days to pay or respond.
4. If they do not do so, you can issue a winding up (company) or bankruptcy (individual) petition.
5. If you follow all the procedures correctly, and the court finds in your favour, the customer will be wound up or made bankrupt.
6. But just because you issue the petition does not mean you get priority over whatever money becomes available.

The law assumes that a statutory demand merely paves the way for a petition. But it can be a very powerful debt collecting device in its own right, without the need to proceed to a petition. If the demand results in the issue of a petition (not an order for winding up), no matter how easily dismissed by the court, it can trigger a reaction from your customer’s other creditors. The petition may be publicised on the internet, which means that small businesses have an effective debt collection tool against customers of all sizes.

For more help if you have been issued with a winding up petition call our business helpline 0800 24 0800 and we will advise you of all your options open to you.

BASINGSTOKE Town FC has been issued with a winding-up petition – but chairman Rafi Razzak is assuring supporters and everyone involved with the club that there is nothing to worry about.

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has applied for the petition against Basingstoke Town Limited, with a hearing due to take place in the High Court next Wednesday. continue

Cardiff City have announced Malaysian businessman Datuk Chan Tien Ghee has joined the club’s board and that he has already started to invest his money.

It comes on the day that the Bluebirds appeared before London’s High Court to face a winding-up order brought by Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs. continue

The firm that runs Coventry Airport is the subject of a winding-up petition by the Inland Revenue, the BBC has learnt.

A petition to wind up West Midlands Airport Limited was recently put before the High Court. continue

ONE of the region’s biggest bus and coach operators faces being wound up at London’s High Court on Wednesday.

Representatives from Countryliner Buses Limited, Countryliner Coach Hire Limited and Countryliner Sussex Limited were due in court at 10.30am.

All three firms going to the High Court are part of Countryliner, which is based at Merrow in Guildford. continue

King’s Lynn director Michael Chinn is confident the club will avoid a winding up order on Wednesday – despite the untimely exit of a key figure in their battle for survival.

With a crunch date with the taxman looming, and a debt of over £65,000 needing to be paid, the Linnets have been rocked by the resignation of financial director David Handley. continue