Former Haines Watts unit heading for CVA
Top 20 firm's former business unit, now called Sixonethreeone, has debts of more than £4m and faces a company voluntary arrangement
A former business unit of top 20 firm Haines Watts Group is heading into a
company voluntary arrangement (CVA) with debts of more than £4m.
The unit, a grouping of Haines Watts practices previously called HWCA Ltd,
was formed in 2005. But it struggled. Last August HWCA’s practices were
transferred back out to Haines Watts’ regional businesses through management
buyouts. The remaining shell, renamed Sixonethreeone, was left with more than
£4m in assets from the buyouts.
Total liabilities will exceed the assets when the costs of entering
Sixonethreeone into a CVA are taken into account. Accountancy Age understands
that HMRC is owed £1.9m by Sixonethreeone, plus a further £1.9m to former
directors.
Geoffrey Fairclough, chairman of Haines Watts Group has stressed that
Sixonethreeone’s impending CVA would have no impact on the firm.
“The issues at Sixonethreeone have no impact on Haines Watts’ businesses,
which all continue to trade normally,” said Fairclough.
Sixonethreeone also faces a winding-up order from former director Manish
Patel for £73,000 to be heard in the courts on 24 March. However, it is expected
that a creditor meeting to approve the CVA will take place before that date.
The most recent set of accounts filed by HWCA Ltd prior to changing its name
to Sixonethreeone, was on 31 March 2008.
A statement in the HWCA accounts claimed 2008 was the first year to show a
profit on its balance sheet due to an injection of more than £2m as share
capital and converting £2.5m of borrowings to a five year loan.
The group consists of over 60 owner-managed firms throughout the UK.
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