Begbies Traynor makes two senior promotions in Preston

Business recovery specialists Begbies Traynor has strengthened its insolvency offering in its Preston office with two senior promotions. Ian McCulloch has been promoted to Partner, while Chris Lawton has been made a Director.

At present, Begbies Traynor is enjoying a bull run, having grown both revenues and profit exponentially in the past two years. The firm’s latest results seem to show the decision to diversify its offering has paid dividends, reversing its faltering performance in 2016 and 2017. At the same time, however, insolvency work still makes up the lion’s share of the firm’s work. In order to strengthen its key line of business in the UK, then, the firm has announced two promotions in its Lancashire wing.

Begbies Traynor’s 25-strong Preston office provides services for clients across the whole of Lancashire and up to Cumbria as far as Barrow in the West and Carlisle in the North. Bolstering the Preston locale’s capabilities, Begbies Traynor has appointed a new Partner and Director there.

Ian McCulloch joined Begbies Traynor in 2008 as a Corporate Insolvency Manager, and has since handled a variety of high-profile administrations and restructuring cases across the North West; many of which have resulted in going-concern sales, jobs secured, and significant recoveries for creditors. He became a licensed insolvency practitioner in 2010. He now takes up the role of Partner in the Preston office.

Chris Lawton meanwhile joined Begbies Traynor in 2016 following a decade in the professional services sector. Before arriving, he spent time with Grant Thornton, Leonard Curtis and Duff & Phelps, and since joining Begbies Traynor, he has worked in corporate insolvency for over a decade – predominantly in the Lancashire region – and passed his insolvency practitioner exams this year. He is now a Director with the firm.

Commenting on the news, Paul Stanley, North West Regional Managing Partner at Begbies Traynor, said, “Ian and Chris have an excellent understanding of Lancashire businesses and they have built between them a strong network of lenders, investors, and other professional advisers. Both play a key role in our Preston office which has gone from strength to strength in recent years and these promotions are richly deserved.”