The administrators of shoe and podiatry retailer Shuropody have appointed CAPA to conduct audits on the business, after they masterminded a last-minute deal that safeguarded 260 jobs at the chain.
RSM UK Restructuring Advisory has instructed CAPA to continue a rates audit on around 40 sites occupied by the retailer, as the corporate restructuring and rescue firm looks to boost recoveries for creditors.
CAPA had previously been instructed to audit data on business rates paid out at more than 40 properties at Shuropody, which has been in administration before and undergone two company voluntary arrangements (CVAs), as it tried to navigate tough high street trading conditions and the pandemic.
The firm’s financial difficulties started in 2016, when costs were disproportionately high to revenue and the business had to contend with loss-making stores.
Shuropody entered a CVA in April 2017 but even after this was secured, the business suffered during a downturn in high-street retailing, particularly when the ‘beast from the east’ ice and snow weather system hit that year, and was impacted when a landlord terminated leases on a number of its profitable stores.
A second CVA was secured in June 2018, but the firm continued to suffer losses afterwards. Shuropody ultimately entered insolvency in December 2018, when Michael Chamberlain, founder of the business recovery firm Michael Chamberlain & Co, was appointed administrator.
Chamberlain then sold Shuropody out of administration to FCFM III Group Investments, enabling the business to continue to trade.
Due to legacy effects of the pandemic and lockdown restrictions, the business later entered administration again, in December 2022, when RSM UK Restructuring Advisory was appointed to oversee the insolvency process.
The administrators secured the sale of the business and assets of Shuropody in a “pre-pack” administration sale to Baaj Capital, a special situations investor which holds a number of other retail investments.
The deal saved over 260 jobs and all of the company’s 39 stores across the UK remain open and are continuing to trade under the new ownership.
RSM has since requested CAPA to continue audits on the stores Shuropody trades from.
This means CAPA’s Audit team will continue to conduct forensic audits of payments to local authorities across the outlets.
The team will look to identify any anomalies or errors in the data before recovering any overspend, boosting the overall returns for creditors.
