UK law -companies in administration3 Aug 2015 00:02
"Q - How do I know what kind of creditor I am?
A - There are four main types of creditor:
Secured (split into security via fixed and floating charges);
Preferential;
Unsecured; and
Shareholders / members
Secured creditors have security registered at Companies House. When they have a fixed charge over an asset, the secured creditor will be paid out of the realisations from those specific assets, after the costs of realisation have been deducted. When they have a floating charge over an asset, the secured creditor will be paid out of the realisations from those assets, after the costs of realisation, the preferential creditors have been paid in full and the prescribed part (see below) has been set aside.
Preferential creditors primarily consist of employees for arrears of wages, accrued holiday pay, unpaid contributions to occupational pension schemes and state scheme premiums, all within certain limits. Preferential creditors rank ahead of all other creditors when realisations are achieved from assets where there is no fixed charge registered.
Unsecured creditors are all other non-secured and non-preferential creditors. These are usually the normal “trade” creditors. They rank below Preferential and Secured creditors, with the exception of when the prescribed part is applicable (see below).
Shareholders / members will be the last class of creditor to receive a distribution and they will only receive a distribution after everyone else has been paid in full."
Effectively, shareholders will get absolutely nothing. Sometimes the grouping second from bottom of the list above (unsecured creditors) get a payment whereby you will hear expressions like '10p for every pound owed to them' etc. which means the shareholders still get nothing. Oftentimes the unsecured creditors get nothing and the preferential creditors (employees etc) get the leanest payment due. The shareholders never get anything. I strongly urge those still grasping at straws to let it go.