Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

I support my noble friend Lord Sharman. This is not a theoretical problem. At present there are a number of very practical cases—I am inclined to use Sainsbury’s as an example, although I cannot see how anyone using Sainsbury’s at any level of activity would be caught by our amendment—where companies with similar names are trading at completely different levels of activity without a problem. Therefore, it seems appropriate that the adjudicator should be given the power—in this case, to make an order—to require one of the companies not to change its name but to undertake not to trade in the activities where there is a conflict.