HC Deb 18 June 1969 vol 785 cc467-8
22. Sir A. V. Harvey

asked the President of the Board of Trade what progress is being made in the liquidation of Davies Investments Limited; and whether another creditors' meeting will be arranged.

Mr. Dell

The liquidator appointed by the court has made satisfactory progress with the realisation of the assets and hopes to make an interim distribution to the creditors in July. Further realisations and distributions are likely to be spread over a period of years. The liquidator, to save expense, does not propose to call a further meeting of creditors but will send the creditors a report with the interim distribution.

Sir A. V. Harvey

I recognise the difficulties in bringing about this liquidation. How much will the interim dividend be? How much will these unfortunate investors, many of whom ill-advisedly put their life savings into this company, eventually get to the pound?

Mr. Dell

I understand that the interim distribution will certainly not be more than 5s. in the pound. The payment of any further dividend must depend on what the liquidator is able to realise, and it is obviously likely to take some time if he is to get the best figures of realisation. So I cannot answer the second question.

Mr. Barnett

Is the new legislation in the Companies Act now working in such a way as to prevent this sort of thing from happening again?

Mr. Dell

The legislation in the Companies Act would not help particularly in this case. This is a matter concerned with the Protection of Depositors Act. But if hon. Members have any proposals to make which would help to prevent such an event as this, we should be glad to hear them.