The administrators involved in rescuing a retailer of luxury pens have instructed CAPA to audit properties across the business.
CAPA will be auditing 20 stores operated by The Pen Shop Ltd, which has been trading for more than 160 years since its formation in 1858, after the firm was bought out of administration. The buyout saved 40 jobs at the company, which is headquartered in Morpeth, Northumberland, and will now focus on growing its online proposition.
The Pen Shop had recently suffered due to the severe trading conditions for Britain’s high street retailers.
Ultimately, the business entered insolvency in March 2019, when Christopher Ferguson and Linda Farish, business recovery and insolvency practitioners at Newcastle-based firm RMT Accountants and Business Advisors, were appointed joint administrators.
They arranged a pre-pack administration to sell the business out of administration to its principal directors, in a deal that enabled some stores to keep trading and protected 40 employees’ jobs.
The administrators have now instructed CAPA to conduct a full property audit of all 20 stores, of which five remain open.
CAPA’s audit team will now use bespoke software to undertake a forensic analysis of data on all property costs through the sites.
The team will interrogate information on utility bills, property service management costs, rates and all other related outgoings. On a no-win no-fee basis, CAPA will look to identify any anomalies, errors or overspend, before recovering overpaid sums for The Pen Shop’s creditors.
