It can be extremely difficult for any type of business to cope with on-going debt issues and the possibility of bankruptcy, but one club in South Tyneside has proved that where there is a will, there is a way.

The former Ellison Social Club in Jarrow has reopened its doors after being forced to shut down due to financial troubles.

The debt-ridden company recently went into liquidation but is hoping to move onwards and upwards under the newly renamed Jarrow Buffs Club.

Gary Duff, the Chairman, said that dwindling membership numbers, cheap supermarket booze and the smoking ban has had a massive impact on the North East’s club land.

However, despite being closed for seven weeks the club is now back in business with fewer staff employed, and the business is hoping for a brighter future. The workforce has been reduced to a bar manager, two bar staff and a cleaner; and there are ambitious plans to spend £300,000 creating a state-of-the-art fitness facility on the club’s first floor, with anticipation that it will be ready to open by August.

Brian Young, the Club’s Secretary, said: “Basically, we were forced into liquidation and had to close because of big debts.”

He added: “We’re glad the club has reopened and we would ask the membership to support us.”

The club is not the only business in the North-East region to be getting a lucky break. The Port of Tyne has announced record financial results for the third consecutive year. The firm has revealed a 5% rise year-on-year to boost turnover to £63 million. It doubled its profits to £9 million in 2011, and 2012 saw pre-tax profits rise to £12 million.

Meanwhile, Tyneside food firm Northumbrian Fine Foods is creating 20 new jobs after securing a co-packaging partnership with leading UK brand, Fox’s Biscuits.

Here at Real Business Recovery, we specialise in providing businesses with active support to help avoid forced insolvency procedures. Our team has many years of experience in giving sound, structured advice to companies on the options available to tackle debt problems.

Get in touch with us today via our contact page for expert business recovery advice.

Luminar, the nightclub chain who were recently facing administration and the potential of losing up to 3,000 jobs, has been saved from going under by industry veteran and former Luminar managing director, Peter Marks.

He joined up with Alex Geffert of Ice Planet and entrepreneur and nightclub owner Joe Heanen and together they bought out the 64 strong nightclub chain that fell into administration after a winding up order from HMRC.

Luckily there was no need for an insolvency practitioner to come in where Luminar were concerned, as they had already put into administration. They fell into administration in October with debts of around £85m and with 3,000 jobs hanging in the balance this almost certainly looks like a good move for the company.

The group are supposed to be considering running the nightclubs over the Christmas period and then assessing the situation and putting the ones which are “bottom-end” units on the market.

Speaking about the future of Luminar, Mr Marks said: “Luminar has a lot of good people and with hard work, the right financial structure and an investment programme the company can look forward to a great future,”

If you would like to find out more about what happens when a company goes into administration, or if they are facing it then you should pay a visit to the Real Business Recovery website and see what they can do to help you!

According to more than 500 financial directors and business owners surveyed by R3 during the last quarter of 2010, there is still a good deal of concern about the economy in the UK. Many businesses are experiencing problems with cash flow amidst the loss of regular customers as compared to the same quarter of the previous year. As reported in the ‘Business Distress Index,’ there are a number of key signs of economic distress among UK businesses.

One of the greatest concerns is the fact that almost one-third of their customers had ceased making efforts to work with them which is up almost 6pc from the corresponding three month period. Added to that, 5pc reported a decrease in profits, from 49pc up to 54pc, and a 2pc spike in companies finding it difficult to pay invoices. More partnerships, companies and sole traders are seeking professional business recovery advice in order to avoid bankruptcy.

Steven Law, president of R3, is quoted by the Telegraph as saying that the difficulties may simply be the result of an increase in overhead and other business expenditures rather than as a result in decreased demands for their products and services. Unfortunately, the Telegraph also reports that there is tension building between businesses and their banks and financial institutions.

On the bright side, a significant number of businesses were able to withstand insolvency because of those very financial professionals they set up a business recovery plan with. Although UK businesses are still showing signs of distress, fewer are actually forced into bankruptcy. With little more than 6 weeks left in this quarter, it is hoped that the numbers will be just as encouraging on the next report released from R3 in light of staying solvent amidst financial concerns.

Once the world’s most renowned video rental store but now reduced to ruins – Blockbuster have filed for bankruptcy in the USA in attempts to cut its debts and restructure the firm to ultimately provide long-term business recovery.

Agreements with its creditors will allow it to cut its debts from nearly $1bn to about $100m. Blockbuster’s non-US operations are not included in the bankruptcy, including its 4,000-wide network of stores in the UK, Canada, Denmark, Italy and Mexico.

‘Blockbuster’s 3,000 stores in the US will remain open for the time being,’ the company’s statement said. It has also secured a new $125m loan it says will allow it to keep working during the restructuring process.

“The process announced today provides the optimal path for recapitalising our balance sheet and positioning Blockbuster for the future as we continue to transform our business model to meet the evolving preferences of our customers,” Jim Keyes, Blockbuster’s chief executive said.

Analysts say Blockbuster has struggled with the increased competition in the online rental market in recent years. Other competitors have since entered the market, offering films and DVDs through postal delivery, vending machines and via online streaming.

“Blockbuster will move forward better able to leverage its strong strategic position, including a well-established brand name, an exceptional library of more than 125,000 titles, and our position as the only operator that provides access across multiple delivery channels – stores, kiosks, by-mail and digital,” Keyes added.

The pub sector insolvency levels continue to remain high during the second quarter of 2009, despite there being a slight fall during the first quarter of the year.

Latest UK insolvency figures show that overall levels remain high, with administrations falling slightly, yet liquidations still at high levels.

Mark Wilson, partner at Baker Tilly Restructuring and Recovery LLP, said, “This quarter’s insolvencies levels in the licensed trade may be a modest fall on Q1 2010 numbers, but are still as hight as they were in Q1 2009 at the peak of the recession.

“The industry should remain cautious, particularly as the sector has been put on the notice for the impending VAT hike.”

With the closure of many pubs still ongoing and the fall of 6.3 per cent in beer sales in pubs and bars – according to the latest UK Quarterly Beer Barometer – the fall will continue to have a negative impact on the industry.

It isn’t all doom and gloom though. Although Company Voluntary Liquidations (CVLs) still remain high with a 10 per cent increase from Q4 2009 to Q2 2010, there has been a slight decrease in numbers from Q1 to Q2 2010.

Another positive is that adminstrations have almost halved since Q4 2009 and the use of Company Voluntary Arrangements (CVAs) remains relatively low.

As American carmaker General Motors prepares to go public once again, many industry analysts are predicting a return to form for the American automotive industry. Despite speculation over the company’s value and immense dissent from political pundits, many believe that GM will go ahead with an initial public offering at some point in 2010.

Given that the company recently declared its first profitable quarter in years, the move towards an IPO certainly seems worthwhile. Partially owned by the federal government and backed by a more stable product lineup, GM could see steady commercial recovery as it regains the backing of share-holders.

But CarMax CEO and auto industry expert Tom Folliard believes that recovery might not come as quickly as investors think. Speaking to shareholders at an investor meeting, Folliard claimed that customers are returning slowly to car dealerships, adding that industry recovery may be “a slow burn.”

Folliard certainly isn’t the only sceptical automotive chief executive. Others close to the automotive industry have speculated that GM’s “return to form” may not be as grand or soon as expected. With many of its top brands discarded or partially revised, GM faces an uphill battle in going public.

Portsmouth’s new manager Steve Cotterill has been vocal about his plans to get the financially troubled football club back on track. The former Notts County club manager may not have a direct say in the club’s financial arrangements, but his support is seen as a major step in the right direction for one of the Football League’s most controversial clubs.

Outgoing retail executive Stuart Rose was adamant that Marks & Spencer will remain highly profitable, claiming that the company is significantly stronger than it was just six years ago. After being made Executive Chairman in June 2008, Rose has seen profits fall in the large retail chain, sparking investor worry and contributing to a drop in share prices.

Despite the lowered share price, the chairman was enthusiastic and positive about M&S’s future. Due to leave the company within the coming months, Rose claimed that the large amount of capital expenditures – over £3 billion at last count – have put the company at a greater advantage than their previous strategy.

While Marks & Spencer never came close to filing for bankruptcy, the company supposedly fell out of style in the early 2000s. Claiming that the outdated image was limiting profits, Rose successfully reworked M&S’s public image and gained approval from retail specialists. The company invested in industries outside of retail clothing and food, gaining a share of Britain’s furniture market.

With the credit crunch still hurting UK shoppers, Marks & Spencer face an uphill battle to return to their former profit levels. Net profits decreased by over 30 percent in 2009 – an action that could repeat itself as budgets tighten and a greater number of Britons struggle with personal debt.

According to the Harvard Business Review’s annual ‘best-performing CEO’ list, Steve Jobs is the world’s most valuable executive. The index included CEOs from a variety of different industries, comparing their performance based on internal innovation, long-term market changes, and their respective company’s stock price.

Since returning to Apple in 1997, Jobs has overseen one of the most remarkable business recovery stories in history. Bloated with semi-popular models and facing increasingly heated competition, Gil Amelio’s Apple – the one Jobs returned to in the 1990s – was facing business bankruptcy and near certain failure.

Today, their product lineup is one of the most envied in the technology world. Analysts believe that the sudden reversal of fate is down to Jobs’ performance alone – most observers point to his iMac release as the turning point for Apple. With the company’s market cap now higher than rival Microsoft’s, it appears that a ‘risky’ decision may have paid off.

However, Apple still has its doubters in the financial arena. Investors have bemoaned a lack of dividends, while at the same time complaining about the company’s huge uninvested cash reserves. Whether the financial side of Apple’s success continues to pay off is unknown, but with the iPad and other products proving successful, investors are still eyeing up AAPL stock as a long-term option.

March 2000 was an interesting month for American technology businesses and financial institutions. At the peak of dot-com hype, the NASDAQ Composite index moved above 5,000 for their first time in history (5,048.62 to be exact) and e-businesses worldwide had celebrated record levels of investment and ultra-high stock prices, sometimes completely unrelated to their operating profits or real long-term value.

Of course, as history has shown us, the dot-com bubble popped shortly after, leaving thousands of once-valuable companies stuck at lower valuations and drastically short on operating capital. Hundreds went bust, thousands more sunk into semi-permanent administration, and a small few set out to recover.

One of those companies was Amazon.com, at the time a fast-growing online shopping website. Rather than defaulting on loans and backing out of its space, Amazon stuck to a long-term plan and finally, after much work, declared its first profits in the final quarter of 2001. It was the peak of the dot-com bubble, and a technology startup was declaring a profitable quarter. Cue amazement.

Amazon’s story is remarkably similar to that of businesses today. Despite horrid economic conditions and a 2000-style stock drop, many of the most innovative and fast-growing businesses in the world have stood up and kept growing throughout the last three years.

Whether it results in business failure or business recovery is yet to be seen, but the perseverance and long-term business planning on display is clear. Just like Amazon worked through the worst recession in years, many of today’s struggling businesses can recover and become tomorrow’s leaders.