Liquidate, Strike Off, Sell?

I have an online shop which was set up with the CRO last April and started trading in December. It's not turning any profit and due to a change in circumstances, I can no longer give it the time it needs to develop. We have stock, valued at about €550 and we owe the bank €16,500 from the initial €25k start up loan. Other than that, the only overheads are small monthly fees from merchant services providers.
I'm not sure how best to proceed - should we be looking to sell it as a going concern, striking off or liquidating the company? Is it posible to put the company in a dormant state and get back to it when our circumstances change?
Any advice would be really appreciated.

i see this is your second posting on this topic!! One important question that you have not answered is, do you have a personal guarantee with the bank for the loan? a lot of you possible options will depend on this.

Try to sell the company as a going concern of course. If your company does have a value why would you not try to make a gain and use the money to repay the bank?

It is possible to put the company in a dormant state. However, be warned there are annual costs of opperating even a dorman company.

Before answering he question of stiking off or liquidating we really need to know if it is the company that owes the money to the bank or you personally. If the company owes the money is it personally guaranteed?

what are annual costs of opperating for a dorman company, please ?
I thought there is no cost at all, just to send a regular reports with Nil

Nicky said:

what are annual costs of opperating for a dorman company, please ?
I thought there is no cost at all, just to send a regular reports with Nil

Click to expand...

If the company remains on the CRO register but is not trading then file B1 and ( if audit exempt ) abridged financial statements with €40 filing fee or €20 fee if B1 is filed online via CORE.

Dont forget the cost of preparing the abridged financial statements!

Thanks for the replies - yep, second posting on broadly the same topic - the first raised more questions than answers!
I have no personal guarantee - the start up loan is with BoI and was a product that they had (which they don't offer any more) which didn't require any personal guarantee. The repayment of that loan is too high for me to cover from our personal finances (€1500 approx) each month and they won't restructure it to a more managable amount unless I sign a personal guarantee. Not one person I've asked for advice has recommended that I sign the guarantee. I don't want to fall out with the bank because we've had a great relationship to this point and I am being competely up front with them about the guarantee and the position that I'm in, so selling the company could be a good option, but I've no clue where to start and is anyone buying? If I strike the company off, that will be the end of it and there's no ressurecting it, but no ongoing filing etc to be done is that right? The final option of putting it into a dormant state for a few years while our circumstances change is also appealing because I really love the company and would love to try again, but what are the implications for the bank and our ongoing relationship in that circumstance?
Thanks for all of your replies - they really do help!

I think you should be looking to have your company liquidated! At the moment you cannot strike the company off because it has liabilities. If you could strike the company off it is possible to have is resurected within 20 years!

This will freeze the repayments on the loan and leave the sale of the company to the liquidator. The liquidator (a person with experience in selling assets) may succeed in selling the company for a sum that settles the bank debt and the possibly even a dividend to yourself. However, as I know nothing about your business the liquidator may realise no funds and look to you to pay his/her fees. In this case the liquidator will look to you discharge his/her fees. But the liquidators fees will be substantially less than that due to the bank.

I am not 100% certain of the effect of none repayment to the bank will have on you personally. I imagine that because the loan was to the company that it should not affect your personal credit rating but I am open to correction.

Looking down the line even if you do manage to repay the amount due to the bank you will still need to put the company to bed and will have to pay professional fees to have the company struck off/liquidated.

I think you need to move fast on this because your company is not gaining any value as the days go by. Also for each repayment you make the cost benefit of my suggestion is lost!

I hope you find this useful.