Protect, restructure or close your business with confidence.
When your company faces financial pressure, early advice makes all the difference.
Financial challenges do not always mean the end of the road for your business. Our experienced Business Recovery and Restructuring team works with company directors to assess every option, from stabilising the business and improving cashflow, to formal insolvency procedures when required.
Know your options by booking a free consultation either in person or by phone and we will help you understand your company’s position and the routes available to you.
Call us today Book a confidential consultation
Restructuring and advisory services
Strategic, operational, and financial guidance when your business needs it most.
Financial strain rarely comes from one issue. Cashflow pressure, rising costs, lender demands, operational inefficiencies, or shareholder conflicts can combine quickly. Our restructuring specialists provide experienced, commercially focused advice to help restore stability and protect value. We support directors, shareholders, and management teams with:
Independent business and financial reviews (IBRs)
An Independent Business Review (IBR) provides an independent evaluation of the business’s financial health and future viability. The scope can be broad or highly focused, depending on what directors, lenders or other stakeholders need. Reviews may cover one, several, or all of the following areas:
- Short-term liquidity and cashflow pressures
- Business performance and trading outlook
- Balance sheet strength and funding requirements
- Operational efficiency and cost structure
- Risks, pinch points, and early warning indicators
- Management information quality and forecasting reliability
- Options analysis and recommendations
- Any specific areas agreed as part of the review brief
An IBR gives all parties a clear, evidence-based view of the position, helping facilitate constructive discussions and informed decision-making.
Strategic options and viability assessments
Clear, commercially grounded guidance on the routes available.
When a business is under pressure, directors often need clarity on what is realistically achievable. Our strategic options and viability assessments help you understand the choices available, whether stabilising, reshaping, refinancing, or planning an orderly exit.
The scope is tailored to your situation and may include:
- Turnaround and performance improvement options
- Assessment of long-term viability and sustainability
- Scenario planning and “what if” modelling
- Refinancing and stakeholder engagement strategies
- Contingency and “Plan B” planning
- Operational and cost-base review
- Any additional areas agreed with directors or stakeholders
The output is practical, commercial advice and gives you a clear view of your best path forward.
Tailored advisory services
Specialist support for financial, operational, and stakeholder challenges.
Alongside our restructuring work, we provide targeted, tailored advice to help businesses navigate sensitive or high-pressure situations, including:
- Shareholder or director disputes: impartial, solution-driven support to help parties reach fair, commercially sensible outcomes.
- HMRC Time to Pay (TTP) arrangements: preparing sustainable repayment proposals, presenting financial information clearly and managing dialogue with HMRC.
- Lender and creditor negotiations: developing refinancing or repayment strategies that protect the business and maintain critical relationships.
- Supplier, landlord and key-stakeholder engagement: structured communication and negotiation during periods of financial strain.
- Short-term cashflow and liquidity support: clarifying immediate pressures and helping stabilise the business.
- Working capital and cost-base reviews: identifying practical improvements to relieve pressure and improve performance.
We work collaboratively with directors and their advisers to reduce risk, preserve value and restore confidence during challenging periods.
Solutions for companies
Clear guidance and practical solutions, whether your goal is to rescue, restructure, or close your company. Every business is different. We will help you understand which route best fits your circumstances and the outcome you want to achieve.
Administration
Protecting the company while rescue or sale options are explored.
Administration provides the company with immediate protection from creditor action while an Insolvency Practitioner takes control and works to achieve the best possible outcome for all stakeholders.
This may involve restructuring the business, selling it as a going concern or, where rescue is not viable, progressing to liquidation.
Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA)
Restructuring debt to allow continued trading.
A CVA is a legally binding agreement between a company and its creditors to repay or compromise debts over a set period while continuing to trade.
It can provide breathing space, protect jobs and preserve the company’s value while allowing directors to focus on recovery. It is important to note that during the process the directors retain day to day control.
Distressed business sales (M&A)
Preserving the underlying business, even when ownership must change.
A distressed sale can protect the underlying business, saving jobs, contracts, and goodwill, even if ownership changes hands. We will work with you to achieve the best possible outcome, often enabling the company’s operations to continue under new ownership rather than closing entirely.
Tailored advisory services
Specialist support for financial, operational, and stakeholder challenges.
Alongside our restructuring work, we provide targeted, tailored advice to help businesses navigate sensitive or high-pressure situations, including:
- Shareholder or director disputes: impartial, solution-driven support to help parties reach fair, commercially sensible outcomes.
- HMRC Time to Pay (TTP) arrangements: preparing sustainable repayment proposals, presenting financial information clearly and managing dialogue with HMRC.
- Lender and creditor negotiations: developing refinancing or repayment strategies that protect the business and maintain critical relationships.
- Supplier, landlord and key-stakeholder engagement: structured communication and negotiation during periods of financial strain.
- Short-term cashflow and liquidity support: clarifying immediate pressures and helping stabilise the business.
- Working capital and cost-base reviews: identifying practical improvements to relieve pressure and improve performance.
We work collaboratively with directors and their advisers to reduce risk, preserve value and restore confidence during challenging periods.
Closing your company
Sometimes closure is the most practical or cost-effective way forward. Below are the formal and informal options for winding down a company safely and compliantly.
Members’ Voluntary Liquidation (MVL)
A tax-efficient way to close a solvent company.
An MVL is used when the company is solvent, and shareholders wish to extract funds in a tax-efficient manner and close the company in a controlled, compliant way.
We can support as much or as little of the wind-down as you need, from managing the full controlled closure of the business to acting once the company has ceased trading and simply distributing the remaining funds through liquidation.
Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation (CVL)
An orderly, director-led closure for insolvent companies.
If your company cannot pay its debts as they fall due, a CVL allows directors to take control of the closure process voluntarily. We will manage the liquidation professionally, ensuring statutory compliance while maximising value for creditors.
Controlled wind-down and voluntary dissolution
Orderly options for companies ready to close or step back.
If your business has reached a natural end or is no longer viable, a controlled wind-down or voluntary dissolution can provide a simple, compliant and cost-effective way to close.
A controlled wind-down allows you to cease trading gradually, completing outstanding contracts, managing creditors, and realising assets in an orderly way.
For companies that are no longer trading and have no significant debts or assets, voluntary dissolution may be appropriate. We can help you determine which route best fits your circumstances, ensure all statutory obligations are met and manage the process smoothly from start to finish.
Compulsory liquidation
When a creditor petitions or others seek to wind up a company on just and equitable grounds.
Most compulsory liquidations begin when a creditor petitions for winding-up, but they can also arise from shareholder disputes or where it is “just and equitable” to close the company.
If you receive a winding-up petition, immediate advice is critical.
If you are considering petitioning yourself, we will explain the implications and alternatives.
Not sure where to start?
If the options feel overwhelming, or you’re unsure which process applies to your company, we can help.
Book a confidential financial review with one of our licensed insolvency practitioners, in person or by phone, and we will clearly explain your position, obligations, and the best routes forward.
There’s no cost or obligation, just straightforward, professional advice from experts who understand the challenges you’re facing.
Call us today Book a confidential consultation
Why choose PKF Smith Cooper?
- Licensed insolvency practitioners with extensive corporate recovery experience
- Clear, actionable advice for company directors
- A collaborative approach focused on outcomes, not processes
- Access to the wider PKF Smith Cooper network for tax, audit and advisory expertise
- Access to specialist services for creditors, directors, and accountants for more tailored support
Meet the team
Our Business Recovery & Restructuring team is led by experienced, licensed insolvency practitioners and sector specialists with decades of combined experience across industries including manufacturing, professional services, construction, hospitality and retail.
Each engagement is managed by senior professionals who take the time to understand your business, your stakeholders, and your goals, ensuring practical, transparent, and commercially focused advice.
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