Fairpoint to bring in administrators

Fairpoint Group, the consumer professional services company, has said it intends to bring in administrators, blaming the “onerous lease” on its head office.

Fairpoint has an annual commitment of £1m a year for the next four years on its lease of its Fairclough House headquarters in Adlington, near Chorley, in Lancashire.

This has made it hard to find ongoing support for the non-legal subsidiaries and it is no longer able to continue trading as a going concern, the group said today.

It has filed notice of intention to appoint administrators within 10 days but stressed that the administration will not impact on the planned disposal of its IVA and claims divisions , which was announced last month.

Around 200 staff work for the IVA business, which is currently based at Fairclough House.

Meanwhile, Simpson Millar, the group’s Leeds-based legal services business, said that it was “business as usual”.

It received £5m of funding from Doorway Capital, a specialist provider of capital to law firms, in July.

Simpson Millar said this working capital will enable it to take advantage of the growth opportunity presented by the size and highly fragmented nature of the consumer legal services market place.

It said in a statement: “Whilst we are saddened that this has been a difficult time for Fairpoint Group, it is business as usual at Simpson Millar and we do not anticipate any significant changes as a result of Fairpoint Group’s announcement.

“Simpson Millar would like to emphasise that its’ primary concern is the continued protection of its clients’ interests and service of its clients’ needs. The client services that Simpson Millar provides and the protections its clients enjoy are not in any way affected by the announcement by Fairpoint Group plc.”

Fairpoint suspended trading in its shares on AIM in June, after bank AIB refused to provide ongoing financial support. This meant the group was unable to sign-off the audit of its annual report and accounts for 2016, and was not be in a position to publish its annual report and accounts by the end of June, as required by AIM rules.

Then on July 3 AIB Group notified the group that it had assigned debt due from Fairpoint to Doorway Capital, as well as providing the working capital facility to Simpson Millar.

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