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Posted

Link: Jhoots Pharmacy chain could face insolvency after Lloyds Bank high court application | Retail industry | The Guardian

 

Quote

A struggling national pharmacy chain accused of owing its locums £670,000 in unpaid fees has been hit with an application to place the business into insolvency proceedings.

 

Jhoots Chemist, which trades under the name of Jhoots Pharmacy, was named in a high court application to appoint an administrator, submitted on Monday by Lloyds Bank.

 

The move comes after the company – which has run more than 100 outlets – was criticised in the autumn by MPs for not paying locum pharmacists who had worked at the company’s branches on a freelance basis. The chain is run from Walsall in the West Midlands by a businessman called Sarbjit Singh Jhooty.

 

In an urgent parliamentary debate about the status of the group in October, MPs raised concerns about the behaviour of Jhoots pharmacies including over its failure to open branches, management of controlled drugs, and not paying staff, landlords and other suppliers...

 

Posted

Link: Claire's and The Original Factory Shop enter administration - BBC News

 

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High street retailers Claire's and The Original Factory Shop are being put in to administration, risking 2,500 jobs.

 

It comes amid a turbulent time for Claire's, popular with tweens for its brightly coloured accessories, which was seeking a buyer after its US owner filed for bankruptcy last year.

 

Modella Capital, which owns both chains, said the retailers would enter insolvency proceedings across the UK and Ireland. The administration will give them breathing space to find a new buyer.

 

Modella said tough trading conditions and "alarming" low Christmas trading left both in a "vulnerable" position...

 

Posted

The last few years' worth of data for UK businesses entering administration.

 

 

Year  Number of Administrations Trend
2021 796 18-year annual low
2022 1,231 Up 56% from 2021
2023 1,567 Up 22% from 2022
2024 1,597 Up 2% from 2023 (similar to pre-pandemic levels)

 

I wonder what 2025 will look like, but I doubt it will be worth celebrating.

 

As a contrast, and harder to find, here are some figures for the other end of the pipeline.

 

  • FY 2022/23: There were 801,006 new company incorporations.
  • FY 2023/24: New registrations reached a high of 890,684, an 11.2% increase from the prior year.
  • FY 2024/25: Incorporations fell to 801,864, a 10% decrease compared to the previous financial year.

 

  • Like 1
  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

Link: Rendcomb College to close after educating children for 106 years - BBC News

 

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A private school which opened more than 100 years ago has announced it will close at the end of the academic year due to financial issues.

 

About 380 children will have to find someone else to study when Rendcomb College near Cirencester, Gloucestershire, shuts this summer. Leaders said falling pupil numbers and the economic situation have made it financially unviable to keep the site open.

 

Somerset's Royal High School Bath, a private day and boarding school for girls, also announced this month it will close its nursery to Year 4 classes.

 

Paul Hodgkinson, Cotswold District Council councillor, said he was "shocked" by the Rendcombe closure and it will have "a big impact" on the area...

 

Posted

Very sad for many locally, but it was inevitable some schools would not survive the VAT hike. Looking at the BBC picture, the school looks to have a stunning building and a stunning location - I wonder what will happen to it - would be a great shame to see it fall in to disrepair. If sold, where's the money go?

Posted
8 minutes ago, Ditto said:

... If sold, where's the money go?

  1. Pay off existing debts, staff salaries, maintenance costs and loans
  2. Any remaining net proceeds after all liabilities are settled must be used to advance the original educational objectives set out in the trust deeds, which is to provide education for public benefit.

Link: RENDCOMB COLLEGE FOUNDATION - 311713

  • Thanks 1
Posted (edited)

£0.5m on the topc 6 salaries with, approx a £10m income and expenditure and 168 staff is spicy. But what is the estate worth - looks outside my budget! I have to wonder how they provide education for public benefit after closure.

Edited by Ditto
Posted

@Ditto The school is staying open, it’s the Nursery - Year 4 year groups that are sadly closing. Years 5 and 6 will be based at the other school site. 

  • Thanks 1
Posted
10 hours ago, thimon said:

@Ditto The school is staying open, it’s the Nursery - Year 4 year groups that are sadly closing. Years 5 and 6 will be based at the other school site. 

On re-reading, yes I can see that now. Classic click bait headline - tut tut BBC! Will those in the senior salary roles remain as they are I wonder?

Posted

Link: Scottish rocket startup nears collapse despite £26m in taxpayer loans | Aerospace industry | The Guardian

 

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A British space company hoping to launch the first homegrown rocket from Scotland is on the brink of collapse, threatening 150 jobs and throwing doubt over the UK’s extraterrestrial ambitions.

 

Orbex, which is based in the Scottish Highlands, is lining up administrators as hopes fade that it will strike a rescue deal or raise funds, despite having been handed £26m in government loans last year.

 

The startup had planned to launch a rocket from a base on the Shetland Islands and was “on the cusp” of holding its first test flights in 2026, according to its chief executive, Phil Chambers.

 

The company had also been in talks to raise fresh cash from the Treasury-backed National Wealth Fund, but that deal fell through at an “early stage” of discussions late last year, a source with knowledge of the situation said.

 

Launch plans were also hit by repeated delays and Orbex eventually turned to a potential German buyer, The Exploration Company, which is developing a reusable spacecraft. On Wednesday, Orbex said it had examined several merger and acquisition options in an effort to stay afloat but none of had come to fruition...

 

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

NOTE: Not a political post: No political replies are expected, nor are they invited.

 

Link: Lobbying firm co-founded by Mandelson goes into administration - BBC News

 

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Global Counsel, the lobbying firm co-founded by Peter Mandelson, has gone into administration.

 

It comes after leading clients cut ties with the company after details emerged of Lord Mandelson's apparent links with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

 

This had a "monumental impact on the business" and left its directors with "no option", administrator Interpath said in a statement on Friday.

 

A senior source said the company's collapse was a "total nightmare and unfair", adding it risked the loss of 120 jobs.

 

Global Counsel had warned on Thursday there would be "a significant number of redundancies being made by the administrators when they take control of the company"...

 

Posted (edited)

If there was ever a more appropriate time for this gif, I don’t one when it was…

 

IMG_2998.gif.efb82c9be25758bfcdaeffdaae7a6f58.gif

Edited by Norphy
  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

Link: British ceramics firm Denby to appoint administrators - BBC News

 

Quote

Renowned 217-year-old pottery firm Denby has confirmed plans to appoint administrators saying it has struggled with rising costs in recent years.

 

The Derbyshire-based company was founded in 1809 and bought by the investment firm Hilco Capital 2009, saving it from collapse.

 

In a statement on Thursday, The Denby Group said it had filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators "as a precautionary measure", saying it had so far been unable to secure a suitable investment partner.

 

The firm said reduced demand, "escalating" employment costs and "soaring" energy costs had "squeezed the business financially".

 

The Denby Group said it had also struggled to access funding due to "tighter financial markets".

 

"While Denby has explored a range of options, it has not yet been able to secure a strategic investment partner aligned with the long-term vision and values of its historic British brands much loved by their large global fan base," the statement said.

 

"The search for a suitable partner will continue whether for the Denby Group as a whole or for the brands individually."..

 

Posted
14 hours ago, MrEprise said:


Considering their car parks are always much more expensive than the council ones, I'm not as surprised. People tend to avoid these car parks unless there's no other options.

We avoid the local ones now. The spaces (line markings) are just not suitable for a large or longer style car. Normally one of us has to climb over the passenger seat pull out of the space then load up the car. We also got a ticket in one of these once, as our wheel was literally touching the "line" marking.

Posted

Having read around the subject it appears to be the usual Private Equity company bought NCP, sold all the properties they had and then leased them back for short term profit.  Leases turned out to be expensive and when some properties went financially unviable, they couldn't be got rid of due to the fixed leases.  Brilliant strategy.

 

I wonder if anyone has done a study on the percentage of PE bought companies that thrived or went bust. It seems to be a recurring theme.

  • Like 2
Posted
Just now, TechMonkey said:

Having read around the subject it appears to be the usual Private Equity company bought NCP, sold all the properties they had and then leased them back for short term profit.  Leases turned out to be expensive and when some properties went financially unviable, they couldn't be got rid of due to the fixed leases.  Brilliant strategy.

 

I wonder if anyone has done a study on the percentage of PE bought companies that thrived or went bust. It seems to be a recurring theme.

I heard the story on BBC news last night. Essentially, they have never recovered from Covid, people weren't using the carparks but they still had to pay the leases. Even now, they cannot financially recover as lots of people are still working from home, and not using them.

Posted
3 minutes ago, TheHyperTechie said:

I heard the story on BBC news last night. Essentially, they have never recovered from Covid, people weren't using the carparks but they still had to pay the leases. Even now, they cannot financially recover as lots of people are still working from home, and not using them.

Yes, that appears to be the official story, blame it on WfH. Totally annecdotally, the NCP car parks around me always seem moderately full, if not packed.

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