Where the information comes from
- The Gazette, the UK's official public record, for every insolvency notice: administrations, liquidations, winding-up petitions and orders.
- Companies House for each company's age, filing history, accounts, changes of ownership and lending secured on its assets.
- The Insolvency Service's official statistics, which we check our own counts against every month.
- Official sources only for wider economic events: the Bank of England, GOV.UK, legislation.gov.uk, Parliament and the Office for Budget Responsibility.
How we choose the week's deals
We read every relevant notice from the previous seven days, set aside companies with nothing to sell, and look closely at those likely to hold property, a trading business or brand, digital assets, or equipment. Each is scored from 1 to 5 on four measures:
| Measure | What it asks |
|---|---|
| Value | Is there something substantial and saleable? |
| Accessibility | Can a smaller buyer realistically get involved? |
| Competition | Is it likely to slip under the radar? Higher means fewer rival bidders. |
| Timing | Is a sale happening soon enough to act on? |
The overall score is the average of the four. The five highest make the week's top 5.
Reading a company's track record
A company in trouble for the first time is different from one that has struggled for years. We check each featured company's filings, accounts, changes of control, lending and past Gazette notices, then give it one label:
| Label | What it means |
|---|---|
| Sudden deterioration | A clean record that broke recently. |
| Long-running pressure | Repeated late filings, strike-off warnings or petitions over several years. |
| Chronic late filer | Habitually late but always catches up. On its own, a weak signal. |
| Repeat failure | The business or brand has been through insolvency before. |
| Recent change of control | New owners or board shortly before the appointment. |
| Shrinking | Its reported size has fallen year on year. |
| Insufficient history | Too young, or too little on record, to judge. |
The Distress Index
One number for UK company insolvencies over the last four weeks, where 100 is the average for 2024 to 2025. It counts only the three procedures the law requires to be published in The Gazette, which make up about 99% of UK company insolvencies: administrations, creditors' voluntary liquidations and winding-up orders. Each company is counted once, however many notices it generates. Winding-up petitions are tracked separately as an early warning, because a petition is a creditor's request, not a failure.
Every month we compare our counts with the Insolvency Service's official figures and publish the result. Full method, caveats and the official comparison.
Rules we never break
- We describe each company's status exactly as the official notice states it. A company facing a winding-up petition is not insolvent, and we never say it is.
- We don't publish the names or personal details of directors, shareholders or other individuals.
- We don't speculate about wrongdoing or comment on anyone's conduct.
- We don't value assets, predict prices or recommend investments.
- We don't arrange sales, introduce buyers or take any fee from a deal.
- We describe economic events as coinciding with changes in insolvencies, never as causing them.
Corrections
If we get something wrong, email appointeduk@gmail.com or reply to any issue, and we'll correct it in the next issue and online.