Latest News from TMA (UK)
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14 May 2010 | ABUSE - PRE-PACK ADMINISTRATION
The concept of a pre-pack administration is not new but its use is growing. It is a procedure in which the...
21 April 2010 | K2 Partners
K2 Business Rescue Launches Survival Guide. A new reference guide called "A Practical Guide for...
21 January 2010 | Ruling by the High Court on how administrators must deal with rent
Goldacre (Offices) Limited V Nortel Networks UK Limited (in administration) [2009] EWHC 3389(Ch) has decided...
19 July 2010 | Barclays Wealth launches Economics Blog
Last week Michael Dicks, Chief Economist for Barclays Wealth, launched his Economics Blog, offering his insights on major economic developments around the world. Recent posts include comments on the UK Budget, the G20 and the Chinese renminbi.
30 June 2010 | Taking stock ……And looking forward to 2011
Reflecting on the events of the last 6 months I am pleased to see that we now finally have a government that is prepared to deal with Britain’s structural deficit and an acknowledgment that we can no longer afford to grow our economy on credit! But boy have they got a lot of work to do, and it will really test Dave and Nick’s newly formed coalition love in. Let’s hope it survives their honeymoon.
7 June 2010 | TMA (UK) REPORT - FINANCE MONTHLY
"The UK faces a debt of £163 billion but it is not alone. Britain is not part of the Euro and though it could simply allow the Sterling to depreicate and have an export led recovery it is not quite that simple. At some point interest rates will start to lift off. One thing is certain - change is a constant. By the time this article will be read we will have a change in government. the international community will assess if the new government has the resolve to drive the UK debt levels down."
7 June 2010 | "FINANCIER WORLDWIDE SPECIAL ARTICLE – EMEA RESTRUCTURING”
In the May 2010 edition of Financier Worldwide their special article included an article by Simon Ling-Locke on Non-performing portfolios in banks BUT other articles of interest to the TMA(UK) members including – Lehman Brothers / Insolvency in the UK / Asset Valuation / New legislation in Austria / & Insolvency in the United Emirates
29 March 2010 | Are banks building up a deadly portfolio of underperforming loans?
What is happening? Over the last year or so many of you may have heard the phrase “extend and pretend” countless times. This is a situation where lender(s) agree to extend maturities and /or amend covenants on a debt instrument to a borrower to avoid an event of default occurring in the (vain?) hope that: - the operating performance of the company will return to health, or - the market will once again be prepared to refinance deals on high leverage multiples.
16 February 2010 | TMA (UK) Members in the Trenches:
Here, through two case studies, we explore the detail behind two very different turnaround situations. First, a £4.5m turnover owner managed SME. Second, a $2bn turnover Fortune 1000 global oil and gas major with a loss making subsidiary. The contrast is widened by their locations ‐ Lincolnshire to Brazil.
1 February 2010 | The Interim Management Market
The Snapshot Survey - Dec 2009 The decline in the Interim Management Market appears to be over, according to the latest six months snapshot of 11,000 Interims. Activity increased slightly by 0.9% over the past six months and this small increase is in big contrast to the 15% drop in market activity recorded in the 12 months from June 2008 - June 2009
27 January 2010 | Barclays Interest and Exchange Rate Outlook - January 2010
Barclays latest bulletin provides information only commentary on the issues affecting interest and exchange rates.
25 January 2010 | Business Turnaround Training
A well entrenched school of thought exists that says that ‘you can’t teach turnaround’, which I must admit was also my initial feeling when the subject first came up. I think that this is a natural‐enough reaction in a business that is characterised by practitioners who have traditionally been broadly qualified by their experience of ‘doing it’; and one in which there has been no formal career path to train new entrants. After all, until relatively recently with the establishment of the Institute for Turnaround, there hadn’t been any form of UK accreditation of professionals, although the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) in the United States has an established Certified Turnaround Professional (CTP) qualification.
10 December 2009 | How to transform Royal Mail
There's a fierce battle for Royal Mail's future. Managers want to modernise services as electronic communications grow rapidly but the union leaders hold fears over jobs, pay and pensions.
12 November 2009 | Qualified turnaround professionals needed to drive economic recovery
Many of you will be aware of the Institute for Turnarounds (IFT’s) recent press statement regarding its proposals to introduce a new policy frame work for the IFT Practising Certificate and Professional Licence in a move to make the role of the Turnaround Professional one that is formal, regulated and legally protected.
9 November 2009 | There may be MORE trouble ahead…
... says Tyrone Courtman! The general consensus among turnaround specialists and insolvency practitioners in the midlands is that business is a little quieter than you might expect given the depth and intensity of the current recession. There are several possible explanations behind the lower than expected insolvency numbers: the first one being that Corporates’ are restructuring both operationally and financially in order to cut costs and borrowings so as to be able to ride out the recession. Second, the government’s tax deferment scheme is working, though there is a controversial debate brewing as to whether these agreements are simply storing up significant debt problems for already financially stretched businesses. Third, interest rates are at an all time low and are likely to remain so for some time yet and arguably the government has placed pressure on the banking community to retain existing, and extend new lending, facilities to business customers.
21 September 2009 | Evolution of the UK Lending market since 2008
Presentation by Andrew Speirs, MD at Hawkpoint Partners Limited, on 10th September at the C5 Insolvency & Restructuring Summer School in London.
3 September 2009 | A definitive guide for directors of UK companies in difficulties:
...... mitigating personal risk while helping companies survive: Directors are more exposed than ever to personal risk, legal challenges and the cost, not to mention the worry, of defending creditor actions. If you are the director of a company which might be at risk of falling into insolvency then this article is for you. We set out your risks and responsibilities, and provide guidance on what actions you can take to mitigate that risk and help the company survive. The relevant case law is given for each section at the end of the article, and makes sobering reading!
13 July 2009 | Successful Summer Congress
Around 100 people gathered at Regent’s College in London for the Russam GMS 3rd Summer Congress on 1st July. The main aim of the day was to explore the ways in which our economy - primarily from an employment (interim) perspective - will have changed through this recession.
8 June 2009 | Distress is painful: delay, deadly
The current economic crisis will put additional pressures on already struggling companies. But how do the stakeholders, be they Management, Directors, Debt Holders or Equity Participants, determine whether to bring in external help? And, if so, when?
8 June 2009 | TMA-UK initiates educational program
In today’s challenging economic climate,TMA-UK leadership has felt an increasingly urgent need to provide business executives with a better understanding of the processes involved in corporate turnaround and restructuring. In response to this need, TMA-UK director of membership and public relations David Hole and recently appointed TMA-UK director Dominic Reimbold have created and are now conducting a professional development program entitled “Fundamentals in Turnaround Management.”
14 May 2009 | The Economist - Business Turnaround Supplement
Much space has already been devoted to discussing the causes of the current recession, the events leading up tothe financial crash, and whether or not it could have been foreseen. This supplement looks at some of the lessons we can learn from the crisis. We hope you will find this supplement both relevant and informative, and that it may help you to build more sustainable and efficient business strategies. Anthony Wilks, Editor, Lyonsdown Media
14 May 2009 | Tackling the turnaround tsunami
The UK economy is bracing itself for yet another quarter of poor economic performance as disastrous financial data and doom laden predictions keep arriving in inboxes and across desks. The effect of the severe economic retraction is beginning to be felt right across UK plc as finance houses and insurers continue to retrench their positions and revenues fall for retailers, manufacturers and service businesses alike.
6 April 2009 | Supply - a chain without charm
Supply chain isn’t very sexy, but for a manufacturing or product distribution company, the end-to-end supply chain accounts for about 70% of total costs. So it’s obvious where operational changes should be focussed to control where the money is going........
17 March 2009 | View from the Trenches
If you want to know how bad the credit market is, ask a broker. We see it from both sides - the lending opportunities which are dropping out of the main stream banks and the difficulty in getting funding within the secondary debt market.
17 February 2009 | Pre-packed administrations may provide respite to businesses struggling to stay afloat
LEGALISED robbery or the best way to save jobs? Both descriptions have been attached to the so-called pre-pack administrations used to rescue high street names including Whittard, USC and Officers Club. Pre-pack administrations – so called because a potential buyer for a struggling company is found before the business is declared insolvent - have become a popular lifeline for failing businesses.
17 February 2009 | Tsunami thinking
Along with several (recently interviewed) top bankers, it’s easy to wonder how on earth we have ended up in this economic crisis. But does this uncertainty mean crunch time for the jobs market? And how can struggling companies and those in the market for new challenges survive in stormy times?
3 February 2009 | TMA (UK) meeting predicts ‘bloodbath in the high street’
“Between 1995 and 2006 a baboon running a banana shop could have made a lot of money.” So said one of the UK’s leading retail turnaround experts, Barry Knight, at a TMA (UK) conference in London just a day before the Bank of England cut interest rates to the lowest level since it was founded in 1694. Knight’s comment could have been made by many around the world, looking at the wreckage of the recent global credit boom. On 7 January, with barely the chance to digest their last mince pie, over 120 restructuring directors, investors, insolvency practitioners and interim manager recruiters packed out the London offices of accountancy firm PKF to attend the TMA (UK)’s annual ‘Turnaround Preview- 2009'. Everyone agreed that it’s not the cost of credit that is the problem. It’s the availability. As Philip Long, senior insolvency partner with PKF in the UK and host of the evening pointed out: “We have gone from credit feast to credit famine.”