South West based Electrical Contractor
This business had grown over 10 years from a one man band to a business employing over 30 electricians and with a turnover in excess of £2m per year. In 2010 when the construction industry went into decline this had a serious knock on effect in 2 ways. Firstly turnover reduced dramatically and secondly a number of customers went bust owing the business over £200,000. The Directors (Husband and Wife) put in their own personal money to keep the business going but even after that the debts the business had incurred were insurmountable.
After contacting Business Advice Services we had a meeting with the Directors where we discussed the viability of the business going forward. It was agreed that if the business could get rid of it’s historic debt then it had a bright and profitable future. Because of the amount of total debt (in excess of £500,000) and the fact that HMRC were getting heavy and some suppliers had put them on stop it was decided that the business was actually trading insolvent and the only option was to liquidate this business and set up a new company.
A plan was put in place and over a period of 3 months the new company was established, staff transferred over and the old company was liquidated getting rid of over £500,000 of debt.
The new company is now thriving and profitable, the employees are still in employment and the Directors can now sleep at night. The new business trades under a very similar name, has retained it’s telephone number, website, customers and some of the assets it needed but it is now debt free.
We really were at our wits end. We couldn’t sleep at night, dreaded going into work every day and opening the post or answering the phone and had almost decided to throw in the towel and give up as it was really affecting our personal lives. Then we got an email from Business Advice Services and thought there was nothing to lose in speaking to them, although we didn’t believe they could do anything. After meeting with Phil he explained the process of liquidation and said that providing we did things in the correct order and timescales it was legal and possible to get rid of all our business debts. We have now been trading through our new business for a few months and everything that was said at the beginning has come true. One of the biggest plus points for us is that our staff still have jobs and our customers are still happy. We are now extremely optimistic about the future but the best thing is that we have now got our personal lives back.” – SP, Managing Director