News
Here you can find CAPA’s latest appointments to undertake forensic audits, as well as instructions for property services from a range of blue-chip clients including retailers, leisure operators, banks and venture capitalists.
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CAPA nets deal with national footwear chain
Find out moreThe board of Hotter Shoes, the national shoe retailer with 64 outlets around the country, has called in CAPA to undertake a full property audit and provide strategic advice going forward.
The Audit team will use bespoke software to interrogate all data related to business rates paid to local authorities, as well as service charges, insurance and utilities.
CAPA will also inspect all accounts payable information, across all of the 64 sites, and seek to identify any anomalies or errors.
Any overspend by Hotter will be uncovered by CAPA and recoveries paid back to the retailer.
The instruction is one of many ‘live audits’ CAPA is conducting for household brands, which include McDonalds and Jollyes – the pet store and services chain.
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CAPA instructed on pet superstore chain
Find out moreCAPA’s auditors have been instructed to conduct forensic audits at more than 60 properties at Jollyes – the pet superstore with outlets around the UK.
The Audit team at CAPA will be working across 66 sites at Jollyes, one of the country’s largest retail and pet services brands. The business has more than 600 staff and posted a £2m pre-tax profit for 2018.
CAPA’s team will now inspect all accounts payable data and information related to property costs at the 66 sites.
They will deploy bespoke software to conduct a forensic analysis of the information, in a bid to identify any anomalies, errors or overspend on elements including invoices paid to suppliers, utility bills or service charges.
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CAPA to audit over 450 sites at hardware chain
Find out moreWilko, the hardware retailer with hundreds of outlets around the UK, has appointed CAPA to conduct audits across 460 of its properties.
A retailer of various home products including furniture, fixings, security devices, bathroom goods and garden items, Wilko has been trading through a vast network of sites for more than 85 years.
It is now seeking to make potentially huge savings across those locations by appointing CAPA for a range of services. As part of this overall plan, the retailer has instructed CAPA to conduct full property and accounts payable audits across the 460 sites, meaning the team will use bespoke software to inspect scores of data for outgoing costs through each location.
The team will undertake a forensic inspection of utility bills, rates, service charges and all other costs related to the properties. The team will look to discover any anomalies or errors in this data that enables them to recover hidden pots of cash for Wilko.
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CAPA called in to audit Pizza Hut restaurants
Find out moreThe administrators of a franchisee group running Pizza Hut restaurants have called in CAPA to help fuel recoveries for the firm’s creditors.
CAPA has been appointed to conduct a business rates audit on 18 outlets run by a group of companies, known as the RNT Group, which all operate and trade under the Pizza Hut brand. The companies entered administration in February.
The RNT Group had suffered challenging trading conditions in the past two years, along with intense competition from similar franchises and loan obligations that heavily impacted cashflow.
Ultimately, Situl Raithatha and Deviesh Raikundalia, both partners at the corporate restructuring and insolvency firm Springfields, were appointed joint administrators on February 21 this year, but they were able to sell the group to Ahrab Ltd, an associated company, the same day.
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CAPA kickstarts plan to aid recovery of UK’s largest chiropodist
Find out moreThe administrator of Shuropody, the UK’s largest private provider of chiropody and podiatry, has called in CAPA to help fuel recoveries for the firm’s creditors.
CAPA has been instructed to audit data on business rates paid out at more than 40 properties at Shuropody, which entered administration in December 2018 after a tumultuous trading period during the past two years.
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 company voluntary arrangement (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’ hit, and was impacted when a landlord terminated leases on a number of its profitable stores.
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CAPA backs TRI Awards 2019 as headline sponsor
Find out moreCAPA is once again supporting the recognition of best practice in business rescue, by renewing its headline sponsorship of the Turnaround, Restructuring and Insolvency (TRI) Awards 2019.
The TRI Awards brings together turnaround and restructuring practitioners, insolvency practitioners, funders, lenders, lawyers, barristers and many others leading their profession in the TRI arena.
For 13 years, the event has championed successful business rescue case studies, along with commitment across the outstanding firms, teams and individuals in turnaround, funding, corporate restructuring and insolvency.
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CAPA called in to fuel recoveries for bakery chain’s creditors
Find out moreThe liquidators of a bakery chain have called in CAPA to help maximise returns for the company’s creditors.
CAPA will be conducting a full property audit of all sums paid out across sites run by The Lands End Pasty Company Ltd, whose registered office was previously in Eastleigh, Hampshire.
As recently as 2017, the chain was on the verge of opening several new outlets in and around London, and a new distribution centre, but more recently the small business had amassed significant debts, which included large amounts owed to Network Rail infrastructure and London Underground.
After the business encountered financial problems, Neil Bennett and Andrew John, of Leonard Curtis Business Rescue and Recovery, were appointed liquidators on March 14, when the company entered a creditors voluntary liquidation.
They have now instructed CAPA to conduct the full property audits at every site, meaning CAPA’s audit team will use bespoke software to carry out a forensic audit of all sums paid out at the locations.
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Administrators instruct CAPA on UK’s largest mobility provider
Find out moreThe administrators called in to save the UK’s largest mobility services provider have instructed CAPA to audit the business.
CAPA will be conducting rates audits on 13 properties across Accessible Transport Group (ATG) Contract Services Ltd, part of a group of companies and charities that provide specialist transport services. These include bus services for people in the West Midlands who experience mobility impairment or social isolation in urban and rural areas.
The group employs more than 700 staff and uses over 600 vehicles from depots around the West Midlands. It has 72,000 registered users and transports nearly 3,000 children to and from school each day.
Accessible Transport had encountered financial problems in the past year and on March 22 2019, Matthew Ingram and Tyrone Courtman, of the business advisory and rescue firm Duff & Phelps, were appointed joint administrators of ATG Contract Services Limited and the wider group, Accessible Transport Group.
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PwC instructs CAPA after rescuing footwear retailer
Find out moreThe administrators who saved over 150 jobs at a footwear chain in a last-minute rescue deal have appointed CAPA to audit all the retailer’s stores.
CAPA will now be conducting property audits at more than 20 tReds stores, after administrators at PwC struck a deal to sell the business out of administration to the retailer New Gray.
The business had faced similar challenges to those seen across the retail sector, including changing consumer behaviour and economic uncertainty. This resulted in reduced revenues across the store portfolio.
In the end Ross Connock and Zelf Hussain of PwC were appointed joint administrators of the company on January 29 2019. On February 8 the administrators sold the company to New Gray Ltd.
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CAPA appointed as FRP try to save centuries-old paper mills
Find out moreThe administrators of a paper mill operator and printer, who are now trying to save over 600 jobs at the company, have called in CAPA to help maximise recoveries for creditors.
CAPA has been appointed to conduct audits of property costs and invoices at three large paper mills run by Arjo Wiggins Fine Papers, which fell into administration in January 2019 after its French-based parent company entered insolvency.
Arjo Wiggins is part of a group of companies owned by Sequana, a listed entity with shares traded on the Euronet Exchange in Paris. Sequana had been beset with financial problems since 2017, when it was hit by a €135m court claim for environmental clean-up costs, along with challenging conditions in the paper industry that continue today.
Because of Sequana’s insolvency proceedings, and Arjo Wiggins’s reliance on Sequana for funding, the fine paper printer struggled to pay its UK creditors.
Ultimately, Geoff Rowley, Tom MacLennan and Alex Fraser, of the corporate restructuring firm FRP Advisory, were appointed as joint administrators of the company on January 14 2019. They have since solicited offers from potential new owners of some of the group’s businesses and assets.