160-year-old company, Hunter Boot Limited, has gone into administration

Hunter is a British heritage brand which is renowned for its iconic wellington boot. It is also a royal warrant-holder brand. You may have seen their wellington boots being worn by the equestrian community or at events such as the Cheltenham Festival and Glastonbury. They have also been spotted on the feet of celebrities such as Kate Moss. So where did it all go wrong for the much-loved brand?

Hunter first went into administration in 2006 after suffering cash flow issues which were rumoured to be down to high production costs. It was then bought by a private consortium. 

Despite the purchase of the company, Hunter went into administration again in June 2023 owing creditors £112.8 million. 

Authentic Brands Group, a US company, has acquired Hunter’s intellectual property in a ‘pre-pack’ administration deal rumoured to be worth approximately £100 million. The US company is also the owner of brands such as Ted Baker and Reebok.

What is company administration?

Administration is an insolvency process where the company is placed under the control of an insolvency practitioner, acting as the administrator. The administrator analyses the company’s affairs to identify the best course of action, which may involve continuing to trade following restructuring or being sold out of administration. This is often lined up in advance of the company entering administration and taking effect immediately or shortly afterwards, known in these circumstances as a ‘pre-pack’ sale, as was the case with Hunter.

How is an administrator appointed?

There are two main ways that an administrator can be appointed.

1. Out of Court

In certain circumstances, the directors or the company may appoint an administrator using the out of court procedure.

If the company has any Qualifying Floating Charge Holder (QFCH), the directors of the company or the company itself must file in court a Notice of Intention to appoint an administrator and provide a sealed copy to the QFCH. This gives the QFCH the opportunity either to consent to the proposed appointment of an administrator or to appoint their own administrator. 

If the company is Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) registered, the directors or the company must also obtain consent from the FCA before appointing an administrator. If the QFCH consented to the proposed appointment or did not exercise their right to appoint an administrator of their choosing within the five business days following the day they received – or were deemed to have received – the Notice of Intention, the directors or the company may proceed to file a Notice of Appointment of an administrator at court at which point the company immediately enters administration and the administrator is appointed.

Alternatively, in other particular circumstances, a QFCH may appoint an administrator of their own volition, ie. before any decision of the directors or company to take steps to place the company into administration, as outlined above.  This, again, is done using the out of court procedure.

2. By court order

There may be circumstances where it may only be possible to appoint an administrator by order of the court. For example, where a creditor has presented a winding up petition to the court in respect of the company and the petition remains live. 

The company, directors of the company, one or more creditors or any QFCH may apply to the court for an order to appoint an administrator. Once an application is made, the court would then timetable a hearing to consider the application including any challenges to the application.

If the court finds that the grounds have been met to place the company into administration, the court then makes an order to do so and appoints an administrator.

Protection of the company

Administration affords protection to the company in the form of a moratorium. As soon as the administration process is commenced, a moratorium is put in place. The moratorium effectively freezes any creditors’ rights to take legal action against the company or its assets for the duration of the administration process unless they obtain consent from the administrator or the court.

We are experts in advising on insolvency matters. As ever, seeking advice as early as possible is always best. For a confidential and no-obligation initial discussion to see how we may help, please contact Kevin Sullivan on 01206 217376 or email kevin.sullivan@birkettlong.co.uk