Member Article

Leeds agency The Black Hole enters into a CVA

Leeds marketing agency The Black Hole has entered into a company voluntary agreement with creditors, which would be stretched over a period of five years.

The company, whose clients have included Argos, Swinton Insurance and Homebase, is now trading as TBH Agency after entering into the CVA in June.

The Black Hole employs 20 staff and reported a turnover of £1.65 million last year.

Speaking to Prolific North, chief executive Phil Crick said the company intends to “fully honour” the CVA and explained that the situation arose after the departure of director Paul Senior.

He said: “Paul wanted to leave and after being with the business 23 years and being a partner in the property business that owns the building, there was a certain amount of unravelling to do.

“As this process would take months and months, there was a danger we would take our eye off the ball and not give our clients the service they require.

“So we were advised that the best thing to do was to set up a separate entity to deal with The Black Hole and Paul’s exit, when we have the time to do it.

“Paul has been fine and there is no animosity on either side.”

Another 25% is owned by Finance Yorkshire, which invested £250,000 in the business in November 2012.

The Black Hole is the second Leeds agency to have taken insolvency measure. Coolpink received a £450,000 investment in 2013 but fell into liquidation in January.

Finance Yorkshire chief executive Alex McWhirter said: “We are aware that the company is entering a CVA.

“When we carried out our due diligence, The Black Hole was a strong and established business, and on the basis of its existing contracts and future business opportunities, we considered the business to be a good investment proposition.

“From that initial strong investment position, it is disappointing that in recent months the company has faced some challenging circumstances, which have regrettably led to the company entering into a CVA.

“In terms of our investments overall, we are making very healthy returns on them and we will continue to invest strongly in SMEs across the region.

“To date, Finance Yorkshire has made 629 investments totalling £79 million. In doing so, we have created and secured jobs in Yorkshire and Humber, have helped to increase the turnover of our investee companies and strengthened the economy of the region.”

There was no exact figure that was owed to creditors as it was being calculated by insolvency practictioners O’Hara & Co.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .