Three directors have been banned from running a company for up to seven years after making illegal payments to benefit themselves instead of creditors. The three directors ran a family owned demolition company that was placed into liquidation with an estimated deficiency to creditors of £1,755,782. Despite this, the directors continued to trade to their
A landlord has won its appeal over the validity of service charges even though it was late in giving notice. The court held that it was enforceable because the tenant had “waived the invalidity”. The case involved Southwark Council and one of its tenants. At the beginning of each financial year the landlord had to
Historically, companies were required to include an Objects clause in their Memorandums of Association. This clause sets out the purpose of the company and listed the activities that the company was able to undertake. If a company acted outside of their Objects, those actions were said to be ultra vires (i.e. acting outside of their
While entrepreneurs may have experience in plying their own trade, it takes a certain critical mass and business acumen before one finds him or herself comfortable enough to contemplate the acquisition of another business or company. For others, it may simply be a leap of faith, motivated by the promise of growth. Nevertheless, it is
So you have started a company with either friends, family or peers and while a degree of trust is necessary, business tests even the strongest relationships. The key to surviving that test would be to provide certainty in order to avoid having to cash in on that hard earned trust, thereby preserving its value. To
Argos is one of more than 200 businesses to be named and shamed by HMRC for failing to pay employees the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage. The retail giant, which was taken over by Sainsburys last year, failed to pay a total of £1.4m to 12,176 of its workers. It was ordered to repay
A director has succeeded in recovering money from the estate of a colleague who breached his legal duty by diverting funds and business opportunities to a rival company. The case involved two directors, Nigel Clegg and Andrew Pache, who were joint shareholders in a company trading steel. Clegg alleged that from 2004 until shortly before
The energy company E.On has won a longstanding dispute over who should bear the costs for repairs to an offshore wind farm. The issue arose because of seemingly conflicting clauses in the contract to construct the Robin Rigg wind farm in the North Sea. The contractor, the Danish company MT Højgaard (MTH), was required to
A telecommunications firm has defended its trademark against infringement by a rival that adopted a similar name and logo. The case involved the company COREIX, which registered its name and mark in 2010 for telecommunication and computer services. In 2013, another company registered the mark CORETX in a different business sector. However, in 2016, CORETX
More than 105,000 businesses have now been set up with the help of the New Enterprise Allowance (NEA), a fund for budding entrepreneurs with an idea for a new company. Under the scheme, successful applicants get access to a business mentor, financial support for up to 6 months and may be able to apply for