Stephan (UK) Limited
Stephan (UK) Limited entered administration on 16 Oct 2026
Stephan (UK) Limited (company number 04698761) is a retail & wholesale business registered in Deeside, Deeside, incorporated on 14 Mar 2003. BDO LLP was appointed as administrator. The record below is built from The Gazette and Companies House and updates automatically when new notices are published.
Key facts
- Company age when the administration began
- 23 years and 7 months
- Incorporated 14 Mar 2003; administration from 16 Oct 2026
- Last accounts
- Made up to 31 Dec 2025 (total exemption full)
- Covers a period ending 9 months before the administration began
- Directors
- 1 active director
- Appointed in 2003
- Charges
- None registered
- Appointed practitioner
- BDO LLP
- Insolvency events on record
- 1
- Recorded 16 Oct 2026
- Administration
Out-of-court appointment
BDO LLP · North West · Source: Companies House
- Since 1 May 2003
PEARSON JONES, Sandra
Secretary
British
- Since 1 May 2003
PEARSON JONES, Wyn
Director
British · Resident in Wales
- Resigned 1 May 2003
AARCO SERVICES LIMITED
Corporate secretary
Appointed 14 Mar 2003 - Resigned 1 May 2003
AARCO NOMINEES LIMITED
Corporate director
Appointed 14 Mar 2003
Companies House data as of 21 Oct 2026
Registered office address
Nature of business (SIC)
- 46690 · Wholesale of other machinery and equipment
Previous names
- AARCO 229 LIMITED · 14 Mar 2003 – 27 Mar 2003
Companies House data as of 21 Oct 2026
No registered charges.
Companies House data as of 21 Oct 2026
Deeside
Deeside
CH5 2UA
Procedure guide
Administration: how it works
Administration places a company under the control of a licensed insolvency practitioner, the administrator, while a statutory moratorium protects it from most creditor legal action. The administrator aims, in order, to rescue the company as a going concern (still trading), achieve a better result for creditors than an immediate liquidation, or realise property for secured or preferential creditors. The business is often sold, sometimes through a pre-pack, a sale negotiated before the appointment and completed soon after it. Scotland uses the same framework, and Northern Ireland has an equivalent regime.
What happens next
- The administrator takes control of the business, and the moratorium blocks most legal action and repossessions without the administrator's consent or court permission; no winding-up order can be made while it lasts, except on certain public-interest petitions.
- Within eight weeks, the administrator sends creditors proposals explaining how the purpose of the administration will be achieved, usually for approval by a creditors' decision.
- The business may be sold as a going concern; a sale to connected parties, such as the existing directors or owners, within the first eight weeks requires creditor approval or an independent evaluator's report.
- The administrator files progress reports every six months, and secured and preferential creditors may receive distributions during the administration.
- The administration ends with a move into liquidation, a CVA, dissolution, or occasionally the company returning to its directors' control.
Typical duration
An administration ends automatically after 12 months unless extended, by up to a year with creditor consent or for longer by the court; many administrations move to liquidation or dissolution within that time.
Creditors and suppliers
- The moratorium stops creditors from suing, enforcing security or repossessing goods without the administrator's consent or permission from the court.
- Suppliers with retention of title claims can identify their goods to the administrator, but cannot recover them during the moratorium without consent or court permission.
- Where a lender holds a floating charge (security over changing assets such as stock) created on or after 15 September 2003, part of the money it would recover, known as the prescribed part, is normally ring-fenced for unsecured creditors, capped at £800,000, or £600,000 where a floating charge created before 6 April 2020 ranks first or equal first.
- Unsecured creditors can lodge claims with the administrator, though payments to them usually come only through a later liquidation or the prescribed part.
- For insolvencies starting since December 2020, HMRC ranks as a secondary preferential creditor for taxes it collected on the company's behalf, such as VAT, PAYE and employees' National Insurance, ahead of floating-charge lenders and unsecured creditors.
Employees
- If staff are kept on for more than 14 days, their contracts are treated as adopted, meaning the administrator takes responsibility for them, and wages and salary (including holiday pay and pension contributions) for work done after adoption are paid ahead of the administrator's own fees and expenses.
- If the business is sold as a going concern, the TUPE rules (which normally move staff to a buyer of a business) usually transfer employees on existing terms, although some debts owed to them may be met by the government instead.
- Staff made redundant can claim unpaid wages, holiday pay, statutory notice pay and redundancy pay from the Redundancy Payments Service, subject to a statutory weekly cap and service limits.
- Where 20 or more redundancies are proposed, collective consultation rules still apply, and part of any protective award (compensation a tribunal can order for failure to consult) may be claimable from the Redundancy Payments Service.
- In Northern Ireland, equivalent claims are made to the NI Redundancy Payments Service, which is part of the Department for the Economy.
Customers
- The administrator decides whether to fulfil existing orders and honour gift cards, often only for a limited period, so arrangements can change quickly.
- Deposits, prepayments and gift card balances that are not honoured are usually unsecured claims, which typically recover only a small proportion, if anything.
- Credit card purchases of a single item priced over £100 and up to £30,000 may be claimed from the card provider under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, and other card payments may be recoverable through chargeback.
- If the business is sold, the buyer does not automatically take on orders, gift cards or warranties, and may choose whether to honour them.
- Manufacturer guarantees usually remain valid, but extended warranties sold by the company may depend on whether they were separately insured.
Directors and shareholders
- Directors remain in office but cannot exercise management powers without the administrator's consent, and must provide a statement of affairs and cooperate fully.
- The administrator reports on the conduct of recent directors to the Insolvency Service, usually within three months, which can lead to disqualification for between 2 and 15 years.
- Directors who carried on trading after they knew, or ought to have concluded, that insolvent liquidation or administration could not reasonably be avoided may be ordered to contribute personally for wrongful trading, in a claim brought by the administrator.
- The moratorium protects the company, not its directors personally, so personal guarantees given to banks, landlords or suppliers can still be called in.
- Shareholders lose control of the company, and their shares are often worthless unless the company itself, rather than just its business, is rescued.
- These are general rules that apply in every case of this type. They do not suggest that any director of this company has acted improperly.
Official guidance
General information about how this type of procedure usually works, not legal or financial advice about this company or your own situation.
Earlier and later retail & wholesale administrations
- Vms (Fleet Management) Limited20 Oct 2026
- Associated Yarns Limited19 Oct 2026
- Csp Solutions Limited16 Oct 2026
- Cotswold Doors Ltd16 Oct 2026
- Stephan (UK) Limited16 Oct 2026
- Mip Trading 1975 Ltd15 Oct 2026
- Zavvigroup Ltd15 Oct 2026
- Away That Day Ltd15 Oct 2026
- Glens of Antrim Potatoes Limited2 Oct 2026