Insolvency courts granted a compulsory winding up put forward by creditors that Speciality Steels UK (SSUK) owed hundreds of millions of pounds to. The judge said the business was "hopelessly insolvent" after being left with £600,000 in the bank on a money wage bill of £3.7 million. Recommended ReadingThe BBC reports that lawyers for Gupta applied for a four-week adjournment to allow for the company to be placed in a "pre-pack administration", allowing an insolvent company to sell its assets to a bidder. It's understood that Gupta's lawyers argued that it could see the business placed in a "free fall", seeing disruption to costs and risks of its 1,500 workers. The government will cover the wages and costs of the plant while a buyer for SSUK is found.
