Welcome to 2025 – a belated happy new year from me and the team! Having got to the end of possibly the longest month on record, with short and very grey days, we offer a roundup of our latest articles and items to distract, entertain and – hopefully – educate. We’d love to receive your feedback on our bulletin.
The last edition of this bulletin was written ahead of the government’s first budget and with the prescient statement that we thought Labour might be finding that life in government isn’t as easy as it might look from opposition. Having boxed themselves in with manifesto pledges around taxes, the ramifications of the first budget continue to echo as the Chancellor tries to both find economic growth and balance the books. Whilst the financial impact of the budget won’t be felt directly by businesses until April, the coming increasing costs of employing (through the increase in the minimum wage and national insurance contributions) may be the final nail for some, with sectors such as retail, hospitality and construction seeming particularly vulnerable. You might have seen Helen Martin’s comments on the latest insolvency statistics in the press, and you can read more in Helen’s article linked below.
The insolvency of a business within a supply chain can catch its counterparties on the hop: Helen and I provide our top tips for those navigating counterparty distress. And in a similar vein, Lucy Trott looked at the prospects for hospitality (and how good business hygiene can help businesses to spot issues early on) in an article first published in Hotel Magazine.
The Thames Water situation has dominated the restructuring headlines over the past year. With Thames Water’s proposed restructuring plan making its way through the courts (with the sanction hearing taking place as I write), the company still faces a showdown with Ofwat over bills, in turn forcing the government to - reportedly - grit its teeth and make preparations in case it needs to use the amped up special administration process. Lucy has been keeping an eye on the proceedings. Her latest pieces looked at the governance lacuna that can arise when existing shareholders are out of the money and a debt restructuring is planned, and the challenge to Thames Water’s preferred restructuring plan by the class B bondholders. Plenty more to come on this over the next few weeks.
The autumn saw a number of technical developments in the insolvency space: Louise Corcoran discusses the extension of the financial sanctions regime to insolvency practitioners, Lucy and Millie Wakefield consider whether a Scottish decision on the process of extending an administration might be followed by the English courts, and Lucy and I consider the immovables rule in the context of the appointment of a foreign trustee in bankruptcy.
A full list of our recent articles and items is below. Again, do let us know if you have any comments on the items covered, or suggestions for topics for us to cover in the future.
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Matthew Padian
Tim Carter