liquidation

"Semantic Software Asia Pacific Limited (SSAP), an Australian research and development company based in Sydney, has released the first suite of its Semantic Computing Platform, Semantiro, described as a fundamental building block to achieving a complete cognitive environment."

That's what the company said in a press release so laden with buzzwords that we, honestly, have no idea what it's trying to tell us.

Australian regulators have other concerns and this morning ASIC obtained a Court Order to wind up the company and the appointment of provisional liquidators.

The reasons for the Order should be a warning for those buying mission-critical tech from unproven companies. Semantic was an artificial intelligence development company that based in North Sydney.

Carillion is one of the UK's largest companies. But at 7 am, UK time, this morning, the company's board issued a statement that took no one by surprise. We've been here before - frantic over-weekend meetings, men in dark suits (these days there are women, too) strutting in with their brief-cases, the expectation of an enormous payday always puts a spring in the step of insolvency practitioners. Men in pin-striped suits leaving meetings stony faced: they are the bankers who decided that their duty to their shareholders exceeded their desire to prevent collapse. The shell-shocked directors who, as soon as they sign-off on the appointment of liquidators lose all authority, now only facing only a series of interviews with insolvency practitioners, possibly prosecutors, certainly Parliamentary Select Committees. And that's before the political fall-out starts in earnest.

A travel company much favoured by our own team in Asia has closed its doors. It's a shame: we'll miss them.

"Diploma, established in 1976, is a publicly listed commercial construction and property development company, undertaking a diverse portfolio of commercial, retail and high density residential projects," according to its website but Australia's corporate regulator, ASIC, has appointed liquidators to the group. Its shares on ASX have been suspended since the end of August 2016

Hanjin Shipping Co. was the subject of an order placing the company into liquidation by court in Seoul this morning. Its collapse is a lesson to those that think running a deficit year after year is acceptable. Sooner or later, it found, people stop pumping good money after bad.