Company and Commercial Law

12 months on and we are still feeling the effects of the pandemic and will for some time.  In March, immediately after the Chancellors latest budget, we asked SMEs across the UK to share their outlook for the next 12 months.  The findings make for interesting reading – including: 46% of businesses with less than £250k turnover are expecting reduced income over the next 12 months. 67% of businesses with…

A director who had conducted the affairs of a night club in a way that had unfairly prejudiced a minority shareholder has been ordered to make an interim payment to her of £200,000. Sam Lyon Head of Corporate & Commercial reports. The figure could be much higher once a further hearing takes place. A judge had found that the company’s affairs had been conducted by the director in a manner that…

The Government has extended its temporary insolvency measures to support businesses struggling during the pandemic. Sam Lyon Associate Solicitor and Head of Corporate & Commercial provides an update. The measures were introduced in the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act in March 2020, including protecting businesses from aggressive creditor enforcement and removing personal liability on company directors. They are being extended till the end of June 2021. The extension means that: Statutory…

On 3rd March Rishi Sunak introduced a number of new measures of support for SMEs as part of his budget.  He also extended some of the existing schemes as well as announcing some new initiatives designed to support the survival, growth and development of businesses. From the extension of furlough to a continuance of business rate relief for retail, hospitality and leisure, right through to grants, a new VAT deferral…

We are now a full year into the Covid-19 pandemic and this pandemic has impacted us all – personally and professionally – in so many ways.   We will be feeling the effects for many years to come. With the latest announcements from Rishi Sunak in terms of support and other measures for businesses and individuals, now is a good time to be asking you, as SMEs, how you are faring…

A SOLICITOR at a leading legal firm has joined the board of a charity which helps young people and adults find employment. Sam Lyon Head of Corporate and Commercial at Cartmell Shepherd Solicitors, has become a trustee of Inspira, which supports people in Cumbria and Lancashire prepare for a career, return to work or look for a first job. Sam has spent most of his legal career advising both large…

There has been a sudden surge in personal and corporate insolvencies, due mainly to the effects of the Covid pandemic. Sam Lyon Associate Solicitor and Head of Corporate & Commercial reports. Figures released by the Insolvency Service show there were 1,228 business failures in December 2020 compared with 891 in November. That’s a rise of 37.8%. It’s also 9.2% higher than in December 2019, when there were 1,125 insolvencies. There were…

We are deeply concerned about the plight of the smaller businesses across the UK including the c. 3m self-employed directors of limited companies, who are not eligible for the government’s existing grants, and have therefore been excluded from the financial support measures thus far during COVID-19.  And this is one of the reasons that we are working ‘behind the scenes’ to try and influence the government to look at introducing more support…

A Q&A published by the Law Society’s Company Law Committee covers the practicalities of using electronic signatures in a business context. Sam Lyon, Head of Corporate and Commercial reports. Electronic signatures can take different forms, from simply typing in your name or pasting a scanned image of your physical (or “wet”) signature, to clicking a button to confirm agreement where your identity has been sufficiently verified. The Q&A covers a…

A businessman has won his appeal against his disqualification from being a company director. Sam Lyon Associate Solicitor and Head of Corporate & Commercial reports. Gabriel Gatheru Rwamba had been disqualified in 2009 for four years for failing to appropriately monitor the company’s finances. In 2010, interim orders permitting him to act as a director subject to various conditions were made. He breached that permission by failing to ensure the…