Case Study: The Effective Dissolution of an Outside Events Company

Overview

This events organiser had to cancel a large event at the 11^th hour due to a regulatory decision made by the local authority. With a celebrity investor, the event had high PR coverage and had sold thousands of tickets. The company would never survive the reputational and financial damage.

About the company

This events company was established in 2017 and had had great success with an estimated £800,000 turnover until the last-minute cancellation of a large motor sporting event. With 2 employed members of staff, the company utilised many outsourced services.

The challenge

With the backing of investors, including a well-known celebrity, the events company had planned, and come close to executing, a local version of the famous TT Road Race. At the 11^th hour, the local authority failed to issue the relevant license to permit the race and the entire event had to be cancelled.

With thousands of tickets sold and heavy investment in planning and marketing, the company was left with a large shortfall, vast refund operation to orchestrate and a substantial PR issue in handling communication of the cancelled event.

In all, the company owed £50,000 to investors and suppliers, on top of approximately £100,000 in ticket refunds to issue. To add to matters, the ticket payment system could not issue refunds. An in-house system would have to be designed and implemented to fulfil obligation.

“The industry is very “close knit” and the reputation of those involved was sensitive.”

– Ben, Case Manager

How we helped

The scale of this set back for the company lead to dissolution. Our role now was to ensure the process ran smoothly and to protect the reputation of those involved as much as possible.

Whilst dealing with the creditors and investors to an amicable conclusion, we implemented an email communication system which would handle the details of multiple-thousand ticket holders and effectively execute their refunds.

In this industry, reputation is both influential and fragile. The public and industry perception of the board members and celebrity investor had to be handled with great care.

On behalf of the events company, we handled the public relations and ticket refunds in such a way, reputations were left untarnished.

The result

With our involvement, the compounding stress was removed from the directors. With us working on their behalf, their names became somewhat removed from the situation, maintaining their reputation for possible future involvement in the industry.

 “Once the regulatory issues have been resolved, there is the possibility of trying to hold the event again.”

–  Ben, Case Manager

Need some help?

If you are in a similar situation or need some help closing your company, for whatever reason, get in touch with our advisers for a free consultation, call 0800 975 0380 or email [email protected]