Navigating businesses through difficult circumstances, Waterstone provides pragmatic informed advice on business distress scenarios and manages recovery and insolvency appointments for best case outcomes for stakeholders.
Recovery & insolvency work is highly legal in nature. Insolvency law is a specialised field and Waterstone invests in its legal team to ensure that we have the knowledge and capability to progress appointments effectively.
Waterstone specialises in recovery and insolvency appointments, consulting & advice to firms in distress or turnaround scenarios and providing expert evidence for court proceedings when called on.
Waterstone takes prides in the work and outcomes that it achieves. The team have published a series of case studies that describe successful appointment outcomes. Waterstone regularly tests the law in court and this work has contributed to the general body of case of law on insolvency.
With liquidation numbers on the increase for several years consecutively, we are left wondering where the turning point is and how bad it can get. The answer may not be positive when considering the peak numbers of 2008, 2009 and 2010.
In 2024 total liquidations were 2,505, a significant 27.1% increase from 2023. For some context, the increase observed during the global financial crisis from 2007 to 2009 was just 5% more at 32% increase to liquidations.
Diverging from patterns in previous years, liquidations in December 2024 rose by 15% from the previous month, in contrast to the 14% and 22% decreases recorded in 2023 and 2022, respectively.
The position of each industry has not changed substantially over the past two years. By the end of 2024, building and construction comprised 1/4 of liquidations, a 1.1% increase from 2023. Notable trades include plumbers, electricians, roofers, and residential construction, who have fallen short of solvency.
The hospitality sector faces similar issues, making up 14% of all liquidations for 2024. Restaurants, cafes and bars are taking the most severe hit, forming close to 40% of failed companies in the industry. Liquidator reports frequently cite spiking food prices, high labour costs, increased excise tax and slipping demand.
Given the minimal assets these businesses hold, there is often little chance of recovery for creditors.
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