News

CAPA appointed on leisure chains, as prolonged restrictions hit Britain’s high streets

Administrators and liquidators of high street restaurants and leisure operators have instructed CAPA to audit sites around the country, as extended Covid-19 restrictions continue to impact casual dining and leisure chains.

Despite the economy re-opening in various sectors in recent months, a number of restaurant chains, cafés, beauty salons and ice cream parlours have not been able to survive an extended period of low or zero trade, leaving administrators to appoint CAPA to maximise returns for creditors.

One of CAPA’s recent instructions was a rates audit on the La Casita: Little House of Tapas chain, now in liquidation, which operated Spanish tapas franchises across Yorkshire.

After the ongoing effects of closures during the pandemic, coupled with growing debts, Julian Pitts and Louise Longley of Begbies Traynor Group, the corporate insolvency and restructuring company, were appointed liquidators of the chain on 20 May.

They have instructed CAPA to conduct the rates audits on five restaurants the company operated, meaning CAPA’s Audit team will now use bespoke software for a forensic analysis of business rates costs paid across the sites.

The auditors will interrogate the data to uncover any anomalies or errors, before recovering any overpaid sums for La Casita’s creditors.

CAPA has recently been appointed on other casual dining operations, including Banh Mi City, the Vietnamese cuisine specialist that was initially expanding up until the pandemic took hold.

With locations in the city of London where footfall remained historically low, even after Covid restrictions were eased, Banh Mi City’s financial problems continued throughout the lockdown and beyond. In the end Alan Simon of AABRS, the insolvency specialist, was appointed liquidator on 25 May, and he has now appointed CAPA to conduct another rates audit.

CAPA will again inspect the data to identify overpayments and recover them for the creditors.

Among CAPA’s other recent appointments include an instruction on Scoop Fine Italian Gelato Ltd, which operated ice cream parlours around London.

The liquidators Jonathan Bass and Freddy Khalastchi of Menzies, the business advisory company, have asked CAPA to launch a rates audit on various prime sites the parlours traded from. CAPA’s forensic analysis of business rates will look to spot errors in overpayments and recover them for the business’s creditors.

In all the appointments, CAPA’s auditors will recover overpaid sums on a no-win, no-fee basis.

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CAPA appointed on hair salon school founded by Vidal Sassoon

CAPA’s auditors have been instructed to undertake audits on a hairdressing school originally founded by Vidal Sassoon more than 60 years ago.

Leonard Curtis Business Rescue and Recovery, the administrators of Haircare Ltd which operates the Sassoon Academy, have appointed CAPA to conduct a rates and property audit on prime sites occupied by the salons and its academies.

The business began to establish its name as one of the country’s premier hairdressing schools in the 1960s, a few years after Vidal Sassoon opened his first salon in London's West End in 1954.

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CAPA appointed on 150-year old courier business

A London-based courier business that counts 156 years of mobilising goods across the capital has instructed CAPA to help find savings across the firm.

Mach 1 Couriers, which trades as Absolutely, was founded in 1865, when the company began transporting clients and parcels by horse drawn carriage around London.

Despite the lockdown and only brief lifting of restrictions through 2020, the business still managed to post an EBITDA of £1.1m for the year, only a marginal drop from the year before.

As the business emerges profitably from the pandemic and looks to continue to control costs, Mach 1 has instructed CAPA to conduct rates and property audits.

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CAPA appointed on café chains amid pandemic’s impact on high streets

CAPA has been appointed to audit a number of café chains around the country, including a start-up that made national headlines, as the pandemic rendered business models unworkable during the past year.

One of CAPA’s instructions is from Smith Cooper, the accountancy and corporate restructuring firm, to conduct audits of Cereal Killer Café Ltd, the chain that operated in two London sites – Camden and Shoreditch – and others across the middle east.

The business became famous for offering cereals from the UK and around the world, past and present, and made headlines for its unique offering. A local protest over its prices in a gentrified area also gained attention from broadcasters and national newspapers in 2019.

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CAPA appointed on 150 Five Guys sites

Five Guys, the American burger chain that has become a staple of Britain’s high streets and shopping centres, has instructed CAPA to conduct nationwide audits of its restaurants.

CAPA will be conducting full property and accounts payable audits on 150 sites the franchise trades from, as Five Guys looks to make savings from its vast portfolio of restaurants around the country.

Five Guys remains one of the major success stories in the UK casual dining market in recent years. Having originally launched in the USA in 1986, it then launched in the UK in 2013 with a flagship venue near Covent Garden in London. After an expansion surge, the business now trades from 150 UK sites in largely prime locations.

The business has orchestrated a similar expansion globally. Some 30 years after the American Murrell family opened the first Five Guys in Virginia, there are now almost 1,500 locations worldwide and another 1,500 units in development, as at 2020.

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CAPA to share expertise on landlord relationships on TRI TV

CAPA’s director and co-founder Mike Sheath will be appearing on TRI TV on April 28, to share insights for corporate restructuring professionals on tenant and landlord relationships.

Mike’s appearance will feature in the first of Credit Strategy’s new broadcasting events for turnaround, restructuring and insolvency professionals. The first ‘TRI TV Refresh’ will host sessions from a previous broadcast, but also a live Q&A element to provide latest updates and opinions.

The TRI TV Refresh on April 28 comprises two parts: Part 1: Commercial landlord and tenant relationships during lockdown; Part 2: Evolution of restructuring through Covid: Carluccio’s to Debenhams Speaking during part one, Mike will provide insights on how turnaround and restructuring professionals can bring both commercial tenants and landlords to the negotiating table, when firms such as such retailers, dining chains, leisure operators and others face financial difficulty.

Part two features Phil Reynolds and Geoff Rowley of FRP Advisory, who will be answering questions during a live Q&A at the end of the broadcast. Tony Groom, partner and chief executive at K2 Business Partners, will be moderating the discussion.

To tune in, viewers can register here.

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CAPA appointed after Opus Restructuring rescues slimming clinics

The administrators who rescued a chain of slimming clinics have appointed CAPA to audit sites the business operated around the UK.

Opus Restructuring & Insolvency has instructed CAPA to conduct rates audits on clinics occupied by Slim Holdings, after the restructuring firm managed an 11^th hour rescue of the business via a pre-pack administration.

Slim Holdings, which also traded as The Slimming Clinic, provided various services including slimming pills that were prescribed by doctors and aesthetic treatments. Trading under the oversight of The Care Quality Commission, the business operated in a highly regulated industry, and was last year impacted by severe rent arrears and reduced projected revenue.

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KPMG appoints CAPA on event firm hit by Brexit and pandemic

The administrators of an exhibition stand manufacturer have appointed CAPA to audit sites across the business, after the impact of Brexit and lockdowns led to its insolvency.

KPMG instructed CAPA to conduct a property audit on sites occupied by Warrens Display Ltd - which designed, produced and installed exhibition stands from its headquarters in Leeds - after the business was no longer able to keep trading.

The origins of Warrens Display can be traced back over 100 years, but the business in its most recent form was incorporated just over 25 years ago.

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CAPA to headline sponsor R3’s historic conference

CAPA will be the headline sponsor of R3’s first ever virtual annual conference in May, when the trade body once again unites those working in insolvency, restructuring and business recovery.

Due to be held as a digital event from May 17-20, R3’s annual conference will have two chairs; current president Colin Haig and Christina Fitzgerald – who will take the president role for 2021 into 2022.

R3 will also be embracing new ways to utilise technology for the conference.

The last time R3 hosted its annual conference in person, more than two 250 insolvency and restructuring professionals descended on Northumberland’s Slaley Hall. Anyone wishing to find out more about the event can register their interest on R3’s website

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CAPA appointed on night club group, after administrators save over 1,000 jobs

Administrators of the UK’s largest nightclub operator have appointed CAPA to audit the group’s sites, after more than 1,000 jobs were saved at the business in a last-minute rescue deal.

Partners from the business restructuring practice of BDO appointed CAPA after securing a deal to rescue The Deltic Group, which had been struggling during the pandemic, by selling it out of administration. The group was sold to REKOM Group, the largest nightclub and bar group in the nordics, in a transaction that saved over 1,300 jobs across Deltic.

During the pandemic, The Deltic Group had not been able to generate revenue while rent and tax debts had built up. The company had been looking for investment as working capital began to run out, and ultimately Ryan Grant and Lee Causer of BDO were appointed administrators in December.

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