IVA provider Fairpoint to enter administration

The board has concluded Fairpoint Group is no longer able to continue trading.

In June, the group suspended trading shares after being notified by its bank, AIB Group, that it was unwilling to provide the level of ongoing support requested to fund the legal arm of the group, law firm Simpson Millar.

However, the group managed to secure funding for the firm from risk capital provider Doorway Capital last month (July 3). Doorway Capital provided a £5m loan and took over the firm’s relevant debts.

Fairpoint’s board believes this new facility provided to Simpson Millar will enable it, and its subsidiaries, to continue to trade.

In a trading statement issued in March, chief executive David Broadbent said: “We expect 2017 will be a year of transition with significantly lower revenues in legal services coupled with a further contraction in revenues from debt solutions.

“However, we expect, in 2018, to benefit from an improvement in legal services revenues combined with the full realisation of the cost savings currently being made which should deliver a much improved trading performance."

Known as one of the UK’s largest debt advice providers in the UK, a company profile for Fairpoint posted on the group’s website in March this year, stated:

• The group was founded in 1997;
• The group has 780 employees;
• The group’s total revenue hit £54.1m in 2015.

Fairpoint owns several other companies including PPI claims management service Writefully Yours, IVA provider Debt Free Direct and Holiday Travel Watch, which provides free advice on holiday complaints.