Liquidation - what does it mean?

While the exact procedure can vary liquidation generally involves the sale of a company's property and holdings, followed dissolution and closure.

Creditators are paid from the proceeds and the company ceases to exist. Unlike an administration, there is no hope of saving a business once it goes into liquidation, although the assets may be sold to a buyer looking to start anew.

The SSI UK liquidation will be a voluntary process.

This means the board will have access to an insolvency practitioner who can advise them during the painful closure process.

In agreeing to the liquidation the directors of SSI had to convince a judge that the process was the most appropriate outcome for the company's creditors.