Our Insolvency Practitioners Review of 2017

2017 was a Busy Year for the Licensed Insolvency Practitioners at Antony Batty & Company

2017 was especially memorable because we celebrated our 20^th birthday as a firm of independent insolvency practitioners and business recovery specialists. We acted on over 100 insolvency procedures, delivering a ‘big 4’ level of service at sensible prices, and we also welcomed 4 new full time members of staff. In this article, we look in a bit more detail about the year we have just had, and look forward to more of the same in 2018.

We were appointed on 101 Insolvency Procedures in 2017

Our 4 licensed insolvency practitioners, supported by our experienced team of insolvency specialists were appointed on 101 insolvency procedures in 2017, across the following areas.

• 9 Administrations
• 1 Bankruptcy
• 5 Company Voluntary Arrangements
• 55 Creditors Voluntary Liquidations
• 6 Compulsory Liquidations
• 1 Individual Voluntary Arrangement
• 24 Members Voluntary Liquidations

Across 2016 and 2017, Insolytics ranked us at 16^th in the League Table of Insolvency Practitioners for MVL, CVL and Administration appointments across England, Scotland and Wales. You can see that we keep some pretty good company.

Our clients appreciate the quality of service that we give, as shown by the testimonials that we receive. Likewise, our aim is to always deliver the best possible outcome for creditors, as the following short case study for one of the administrations we ran in 2017 shows.

The Administration of Percussion Plus Limited – Appointed 3 March 2017

The Company was a leading supplier of high quality, handmade, precision-tuned, percussion instruments for the UK and export markets with a turnover of £1.1 million in the final full year of trade and employed sixteen members of staff.

Whilst it was not possible to sell the business on a going concern, a highly competitive bidding process resulted in the sale of the stock and goodwill. As a result, the secured creditor and the preferential creditors have received a distribution in full, whilst unsecured creditors have received a first distribution of 14p in the £.

We Celebrated  our  20th Anniversary in May 2017

Back in 1997, it was just Antony Batty and Hugh Jesseman, based in Wellbeck Street, followed by Stephen Evans, with Tom Gardiner joining in 2015 as the firm’s 4^th Licensed Insolvency Practitioner. We now employ 19 partners and insolvency specialists at our two main offices in Central London and Brentwood, Essex, and our satellite operations in Salisbury and The Cotswolds.

During our 20 years we have acted on nearly 2,000 insolvency cases, with 2017 adding significantly to the total. We remain committed to helping businesses in distress turnaround and recover, and when that is not possible, delivering the most orderly insolvency procedure possible when it isn’t business as usual.

New employees and promotions in 2017

In 2017, we welcomed four new full time employees:

• Insolvency Case Manager John Sheehan. With over 20 years experience in insolvency, including a spell at the Insolvency Service, John has undertaken work on every type of insolvency, from smaller SME/owner managed businesses to large trading jobs undertaken on behalf of banks and other financial institutions.
• Insolvency Case Administrator Thomas O’Keeffe. A trained accountant, Tom has worked in insolvency now for 4 years, dealing with a wide range of cases from administrations to bankruptcies
• Senior Manger and Head of Case Progression David Parker.  An extremely experienced and able technician, David will oversee progression and closure of the firm’s caseload
• Abigail Franklin who joined us at the end of July as our Receptionist/Office Administrator

Also we had the following promotions;

• Shannon Savill – our Brentwood Apprentice completed her 12 months of apprenticeship and became a full time junior case administrator
• Tania Melim-Alves – promoted to case administrator

Now we look forward to the challenges that 2018 will bring. 2018 certainly got off to a difficult start for industry with the collapse of Carillion, but we will always be here for businesses and individuals for when it isn’t business as usual. So if that’s the case with your business right now, contact us or call us on 0208 088 0633. As always, the initial consultation is free.