The Companies Act 2006 is introducing many amendments which will alter the way in which a company can conduct its affairs.  Some of these amendments came into force on 1 October 2008:

• from 1 October 2008 all companies must have at least one director who is a natural person.  Those companies incorporated on or after 8 October 2006 will have until 1 October 2010 to appoint an individual as a director in order to ensure compliance with this rule;

• also the rule prohibiting companies from providing financial assistance for the purchase of their shares has now been repealed in respect of private companies (not PLC’s). Despite this directors should be vigilant as they are still bound by their fiduciary duties. Also actions which were covered by the financial assistance rule may still be prohibited i.e. if the financial assistance reduces net assets (and it is not matched by distributable profits) this may amount to an unlawful reduction of capital.  
  

Many other provisions of the 2006 Act have had the effect of deregulating company formalities in particularly with reference to private companies. These changes are and will be welcomed however, in order to take advantage of these provisions existing company’s may need to amend their constitution documents.

It may well be worth obtaining some legal advice so as to explore what advantages are available to your company and how best these can be achieved.