This comment is not in any way intended to apply to the Shoreham situation...
lots and lots of different companies all owned by a parent company, however each company a ltd company in its own right - so the loss making ones go into administration the profitable ones are held within the group for re-structure and sell off by the administrator for best value to creditors....
that is however a very dirty practice which will make your name stink for years to come, which is why most normal quoted companies avoid sinking one subsidiary without paying off its debts.
One does that only if there is no other option, and you don't care what anybody thinks, and you are not interested in raising finance ever again.
On even more general terms, the 'limited company' vehicle does allow one to walk away from one business while starting (or continuing) to run another doing much the same thing. This cannot be made illegal without busting the Ltd Co principle which has been a cornerstone of human enterprise for centuries. However, in recent years, it has become a lot easier to make Directors personally liable for debts which their company incurred in its final months. It's also a lot easier than it used to be to disqualify Directors... then you just need an extended family so each time you do a runner you get another cousin or whatever to run the new one.