Peter O’Hara and Simon Weir gave a presentation to the Licensed Victuallers Association at their Annual General Meeting, which was held on Wednesday
21 November 2007 at the St Nicholas Hotel in Scarborough.
Peter O'Hara gave an overview on the Individual Voluntary Arrangement (“IVA”) market and how it had evolved since its inception in 1986, and the current pitfalls that faced Debtors when proposing to enter into an IVA. Specific problems facing licensees were referred to and the fact that, in many cases, schemes were rather limited due to the dependency upon the brewery, who were often the largest creditor and, in the majority of cases, determine whether a scheme would be accepted or not.
It became clear that many licensees were concerned regarding their future, following the introduction of the smoking ban, competition from supermarkets and the adverse publicity regarding binge drinking, coupled with the general deterioration of the economy.
Simon Weir gave a presentation, incorporating a real life case study involving a husband and wife partnership operating two pubs and a nightclub, where there had been a successful outcome for the debtors and creditors alike.
Peter O’Hara concluded the talk by suggesting that if licensees were facing financial difficulty, they should consult a licensed Insolvency Practitioner sooner rather than later, to discuss their financial problems with their options often diminishing the longer they left their financial matters unresolved.
The Annual General Meeting was followed by a black tie dinner that coincided with England’s Euro 2008 qualification defeat at the hands of Croatia at Wembley!
