Penton Publications Goes Into Creditors Liquidation as LCN Prints On

Penton Publications Ltd entered creditors voluntary liquidation on 30 June 2026, with Rachel Fowler of Rachel Fowler Advisory Ltd appointed liquidator the same day. Companies House now records the Belfast publisher, company number NI029000, in liquidation at 85b Main Street, Moira.

The firm, set up on 30 November 1994 by directors William Johnston Penton and Wilhelamina Elizabeth Penton, put out trade magazines and ran events across Ireland. Licensed & Catering News, its best-known title, is still mailing a digital issue months after the wind-up.

Companies House Records a Creditors Wind-Up

This was not a court rescue. The register shows a special resolution to wind up, a statement of affairs, and the appointment of a liquidator, all filed on 3 July 2026, three days after the winding-up began. The registered office moved that day from Penton House, 9 Heron Avenue, Belfast, to Fowler’s Moira address.

The company status is liquidation on the public overview, and the insolvency tab lists a single case: creditors voluntary liquidation from 30 June. Nature of business stays 18129, printing not elsewhere classified, a code that never caught up with the digital titles the group sold.

THE FILING TRAIL

1. 30 November 1994: Penton Publications Limited is incorporated in Northern Ireland.
2. 6 January 2025: Registered office moves from 38 Heron Road, Sydenham Business Park, to 9 Heron Avenue.
3. 23 December 2025: Total exemption full accounts to 30 December 2024 are filed.
4. 30 June 2026: Creditors voluntary liquidation commences; Rachel Fowler is appointed liquidator.
5. 3 July 2026: Companies House records the office move to Moira, the liquidator appointment, the statement of affairs, and the special resolution to wind up.

Bill Penton, born June 1962, and Wyn Penton, born November 1960, remain the only officers on the wound-up company. Both have been on the board since day one, with Wyn also serving as secretary.

Cash Fell to £11,964 on a Paper Profit

The last filed accounts, prepared on a going-concern basis for the year to 30 December 2024, still showed a profit. Profit before tax was £11,342, down from £15,033, and the tax charge on ordinary activities was £4,544. Shareholders’ funds stood at £120,250. The cash line did not match that calm.

Cash at bank and in hand was £11,964, against £233,045 a year earlier, a fall of £221,081. Debtors dropped from £156,797 to £94,275. Creditors due within one year fell too, from £574,787 to £311,064, but net current liabilities still widened from £184,945 to £204,825. The average number of people employed was 14, down from 16.

THE YEAR THE CASH RAN DOWN

Bank borrowings due within a year fell by £205,629, almost in step with the cash decline. The notes say the bank loan is secured by a first debenture over the assets and undertakings of Penton Publications Limited, with a specific fixed charge over the property. Tangible assets were £35,448, down from £48,770. Listed investments sat at £295,496. Other creditors were only £652. The company claimed exemption from a cash-flow statement, so the accounts do not spell out where every pound went.

Those figures describe a year that had already closed when the accounts were filed on 23 December 2025. Six months after that filing, the directors put the company into creditors voluntary liquidation.

Sister Firms Kept Filing After 30 June

The Pentons still sit on several other media companies that Companies House marks Active. Penton Exhibitions Limited, number NI031110, was incorporated on 16 July 1996 and filed a confirmation statement on 2 July 2026, two days after the publishing company was wound up. Its last accounts run to 29 December 2024.

Penton Digital Ltd and Penton Media Ltd were both incorporated on 15 January 2015, both coded 73120 for media representation services, and both last confirmed on 15 January 2026. Cactus Public Relations & Communications Ltd, number NI037275, dates from 3 November 1999 and last confirmed on 3 November 2025, with accounts to 30 December 2024.

THE PENTON VEHICLES STILL MARKED ACTIVE

• Penton Exhibitions Limited: Active, incorporated 16 July 1996, confirmation statement dated 2 July 2026, last accounts to 29 December 2024.
• Penton Digital Ltd: Active, incorporated 15 January 2015, media representation services, last statement 15 January 2026.
• Penton Media Ltd: Active, incorporated 15 January 2015, same SIC code, last statement 15 January 2026.
• Cactus Public Relations & Communications Ltd: Active, incorporated 3 November 1999, last statement 3 November 2025, accounts to 30 December 2024.

July copy on the collapse said Penton Exhibitions published several of the group’s other titles, including Ireland’s Wedding Journal, Neighbourhood Retailer, and Ireland’s Forecourt & Convenience Retailer. Northern Ireland Veterinary Today and the Northern Ireland Visitors Journal, once claimed to have a readership in excess of 80,000, also sat in the wider portfolio. Ireland’s Wedding Journal Show packed suppliers under one roof each year. Whether any of those brands now sit with the exhibitions company, the digital company, or the liquidator is not set out in the public filings.

Why Licensed & Catering News Is Still in Inboxes

Licensed & Catering News is still putting out a magazine. The title’s own site hosts an August to September 2026 issue, and the @LCNmagazine account posted on 2, 4 and 6 September 2026 to push that edition and coverage of the LCN Awards gala at the Europa Hotel. The legal entity that carried the print code is in liquidation. The brand is behaving as if the dinner still happened and the pages still matter.

🏆 The new issue of LCN is all about our award winners! We have full coverage from the gala awards dinner in the Europa Hotel, as well as reaction from some of our winners!

🔗 Check it out here: https://t.co/LRVHxn0k61 pic.twitter.com/aSrrtkRTL9

— Licensed & Catering News (LCN) (@LCNmagazine) September 4, 2026

The awards night was sold as a 12 June 2026 move to the Europa, with more than 500 hospitality and leisure people due in the room, 18 days before the winding-up began. Bill Penton, billed then as managing director of Licensed and Catering News, talked up the new venue in January.

The LCN Awards have always been about celebrating the remarkable talent within our industry, and with our move to a new venue, 2026 will be our most exciting and inspiring year yet.

Bill Penton, managing director, Licensed and Catering News

The public LCN channel has not used those September posts to explain the liquidation. It has used them to talk about award winners, including a Lifetime Achievement Award for James McGinn MBE, managing director of Hastings Hotels. For anyone who only sees the magazine, the title still looks open. For anyone who only sees NI029000, it is closed.

Fourteen Jobs and the Taxman Wait

Documents filed at Companies House at the winding-up put debts at more than £178,000, the bulk owed to HMRC. That figure sits on the statement of affairs around 30 June 2026, not on the 30 December 2024 balance sheet, where other taxation and social security payable was £38,048. They are different dates and different bases. HMRC is still the creditor with the loudest claim in the later papers.

The 14 people in the 2024 average headcount are the other hidden line. The accounts do not say who was still on the books on 30 June 2026, and the liquidator has not published a staff outcome on the register. Trade creditors were £58,227 at year end, the people who printed, wrote, supplied and billed a magazine group that also listed a Dublin office.

WHAT WE KNOW

• The process: Creditors voluntary liquidation of Penton Publications Limited began on 30 June 2026, with Rachel Fowler appointed liquidator.
• The 2024 books: Cash was £11,964, profit before tax was £11,342, and average staff numbered 14.
• The live brand: Licensed & Catering News published an August-September 2026 digital issue and posted about it in early September.
• The sister firms: Penton Exhibitions, Penton Digital, Penton Media and Cactus PR remain Active on the register.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• Who publishes LCN now: Filings do not name which vehicle, if any, holds the title after 30 June 2026.
• Staff and recovery: There is no public statement on redundancies, TUPE, or what unsecured creditors, including HMRC, will see.
• The other magazines: Wedding, retail, forecourt, veterinary and visitor titles have no confirmed buyer or closure notice on the register.

Advertisers who booked the awards, exhibitors who used the group as official media partner at IFEX 2026 from 24 to 26 February at the Eikon Exhibition Centre, and the 6,500 people on the LCN list are still dealing with a brand whose mothership has been wound up.

The 1940 Trade Paper Went Digital in 2020

Licensed & Catering News dates from 1940, which makes it 86 years old in 2026, far older than the 1994 company that later owned it. The group’s own LCN page still calls it the authoritative voice of the hospitality industry and cites more than 6,500 e-subscribers plus 35,000 digital page views a month. In 2020 the brand went through a digital shift, with lcnonline.co.uk, the LCN Awards, and a weekly email named Delicious sold as the new stack.

That stack did not keep NI029000 out of creditors voluntary liquidation. A compact tabloid with a digital edition, an awards night, and an exhibitions sister company is the model trade publishers were told would replace print ads. Here the publishing company still ran out of cash, still owed the taxman, and still went to a Moira liquidator, while the magazine kept arriving in inboxes.

On 6 September 2026, LCN pointed readers to a feature on James McGinn in the new issue. Penton Publications Limited remains in creditors voluntary liquidation at 85b Main Street, Moira, and Rachel Fowler is still the liquidator on the case.