Who Do We Help?

We advise and represent small-to-medium sized businesses facing an insolvency challenge.

We explore all avenues to protect and recover value for the owners of the business.

We help a variety of
small-to-medium businesses

• Businesses with up to 200 employees
• Businesses that are established with goodwill value at stake
• Businesses in up-and-down industries: construction, transport, professional and technical services, retail, mining
• Businesses owned by an entrepreneur, small group, or family

Financial crisis occurs

• Losing principal customer or large customer collapses
• Owner sickness or absence
• Tax problem
• Big project or key contract drains the business
• Adverse outcome in litigation
• Crisis is compounded by accounting issues, thin working capital, management deadlock/capacity limits and/or low bargaining power in a highly competitive industry

Current professional advisers don’t have the skills to help

• Generalist tax accountant
• Commercial lawyer
• Management consultant
• Phoenix operators
• But no one is put forward with up-to-date and relevant experience

Why? SMEs don’t always get the assistance they need – the sorts of advice that large corporates take for granted isn’t readily available

Who do you trust to handle acute financial distress?

• You may never have hired an insolvency specialist before, so you may not know what attributes to look for
• You may have heard stories about businesses being lost as a result of the voluntary administration or liquidation processes
• Your accountant has referred you to someone who wants to meet you at a cafe or a pub (i.e. a phoenix operator)
• You’ve met an insolvency practitioner, but they can only talk about your options (voluntary administration or small business restructuring), and they tell you that they can’t give you specific advice about how to deal with your situation
  

What are options for responding to company insolvency?

• Rectification of accounts, cash flow analysis and management, may be enough to avoid insolvency
• Small business restructuring
• Voluntary administration
• Safe harbour restructure

What is the first step?

• Call Sewell & Kettle to discuss the matter confidentially
• Discuss different options including:
  • Cash flow analysis
  • Small business restructuring
  • Voluntary administration
  • Safe harbour restructure

How do you evaluate what to do next?

• Get the company’s financial records up-to-date and look at your working capital position
• Consider the structure of the business and start to make a turnaround plan
• Explore the insolvency options thoroughly
• Take steps to ensure the business has sufficient working capital
• Ensure that there is optimal asset protection for directors and owners in place