The administrators of Bridal Fashions, the national chain trading as Berketex Bride, have called in CAPA to audit 15 sites across the retailer.

CAPA’s Audit team have been appointed to undertake property audits on the sites, after administrators at business recovery firm Wilson Field took control of the company in November.

A fully national chain trading for more than five decades, Berketex’s store portfolio spanned Bristol, Newcastle, London’s West End, Dublin, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Manchester and more.

Due to various factors including mounting financial problems and similar issues that impacted other retailers in 2018, such as changing consumer habits and the growth of online shopping, the company entered insolvency in November. Robert Dymond and Lisa Hogg of Wilson Field were appointed as administrators on November 22 2018.

Since their appointment they have instructed CAPA to begin the property audits, which will involve CAPA carrying out a forensic analysis of all outgoing costs across the 15 locations. The team will inspect data on invoices paid out at each site, as well as costs related to rates and service charges.

Auditors will use bespoke software to uncover multiple elements such as errors or anomalies in utility bills, rates and all other property related costs. Any ‘overspend’ discovered will then be recovered by CAPA for Berketex’s creditors.