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, insolvency practitioners, leisure operators, banks and venture capitalists.
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CAPA appointed after jobs saved at fashion chain
Find out moreAdministrators who rescued a fashion retailer via a pre-pack administration have appointed CAPA to audit the business.
CAPA will be conducting a rates audit on stores in prime locations occupied by Leeds-based Khaadi Fashions, an Asian clothing retailer rescued from administration in September.
Khaadi Fashions had been operating from 10 stores around the country, including sites within London’s two Westfield shopping centres, along with city centre outlets in Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and Leeds.
Due to poor-performing stores that were opened in 2018, compounded by high rent costs and deteriorating market conditions in the retail sector, Khaadi Fashions incurred losses throughout 2018 and the first half of 2019.
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Cornerstone instructs CAPA on cases nationwide
Find out moreCornerstone Business Recovery, the Middlesex-based corporate rescue firm, has appointed CAPA to conduct multiple audits on 13 of its cases.
Working with businesses and individuals in financial difficulty, Cornerstone has been operating since 2013, offering corporate recovery, personal insolvency and solvent solutions to clients.
The firm has now instructed CAPA to undertake audits on businesses that Cornerstone is in charge of - either as administrators or liquidators. The businesses operate in various industries, including food manufacturing, construction, fabrics and architecture.
CAPA’s expert team will audit rates paid out by the companies, using bespoke software for a forensic inspection of all data related to payments to local authorities.
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CAPA appointed on over 370 Thomas Cook sites
Find out moreThe special managers of separate divisions of Thomas Cook have appointed CAPA to audit properties across the group.
CAPA will now be auditing 376 sites that Thomas Cook occupied after administrators at KPMG, the accountancy firm, and Alix Partners, the business rescue advisors, were appointed to manage and liquidate separate parts of the travel agency.
KPMG was appointed in September as special managers of the Thomas Cook Retail and Thomas Cook Aircraft Engineering businesses. These appointments include the liquidation of Thomas Cook high street shops and its travel and financial services business.
Alix Partners was appointed as special managers of Thomas Cook Airlines, and Thomas Cook Group Tour Operations, along with several other companies in the group.
The UK’s oldest travel business, Thomas Cook had been trading for 178 years up until its collapse in September 2019. At its peak the group posted £9bn of annual sales, served 19 million customers and employed 22,000 staff in 16 countries.
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CAPA to audit 999 support provider
Find out moreCAPA has been instructed to audit one of England’s largest providers of ambulance support services.
CAPA will be undertaking a property audit at SSG UK Specialist Ambulance Service Ltd - now in an insolvency process - after an instruction from administrators at Leonard Curtis, the insolvency and business rescue firm.
Trading principally from its Rainham base in Essex, SSG provided vital emergency and non-emergency transport services for a range of NHS Trusts. It employed around 80 staff at its head office and managed a pool of about 300 contract staff.
The small business had been suffering financially since 2017, when it posted a significant loss. Ultimately Andrew Beckingham and Siann Huntley of Leonard Curtis were appointed as administrators on September 3 2019. The administrators have been assisting the affected NHS trusts.
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Mazars instructs CAPA on over 80 appointments
Find out moreMazars, the global accountancy and business recovery firm, has appointed CAPA to conduct property audits on 83 business administrations and liquidations.
As a long-established partner of Mazars, CAPA has been appointed on a wide range of cases spanning multiple sectors and the breadth of the country.
CAPA’s Audit team will be working on properties occupied by firms in industries ranging from aerospace engineering, leisure, tourism, catering and home retail, right through to architects, wine merchants, warehousing, logistics and more.
Among other cities and counties, the team will be auditing sites in London, Nottingham, Stafford, Blackburn, Coventry, Suffolk, Hertfordshire, Kent and up to the tip of Sunderland.
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CAPA acquires prime Leeds site for growing restaurant group
Find out moreCAPA has acquired a former restaurant property located in Victoria Gate, the shopping centre in the heart of Leeds, for the Wagyu Bar and Grill.
The previous CAU restaurant, part of the Argentinian dining chain that entered insolvency in July 2018, was acquired from Hammerson, the retail property developer and landlord at the £165m shopping arcade in central Leeds.
Opened in 2016 and anchored by a flagship John Lewis store – the largest outside London – Victoria Gate is the biggest premium retail and leisure venue in northern England. The centre hosts global brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Russell & Bromley, Hackett and T2 as well as a stunning new casino.
Thanks to the acquisition led by CAPA director James Ratcliffe, which was secured at lower rent, Wagyu Bar and Grill will now feature as one of Victoria Gate’s high-end restaurants.
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CAPA to seek occupancy cost savings for UK footwear retailer Schuh
Find out moreGenesco, the owner of UK footwear retailer Schuh, has instructed Capa to seek occupancy cost savings across its 130 store estate.
Capa will immediately engage with landlords to explore rent reductions as part of an overall process to reverse the current loss making. This being a prerequisite to the required refinancing of the business given the expiry of the current loan term.
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CAPA instructed after chicken chain saved
Find out moreThe administrators of a fried chicken restaurant chain, who saved the business and most of its employees’ jobs via a sale, have instructed CAPA to audit the company’s sites.
CAPA will be undertaking full property audits at sites occupied by Dirtybird Restaurants, which traded as Bird Restaurants from prime London locations such as Camden, Canary Wharf, Shoreditch and Westfield.
Restructuring, recovery and insolvency firm BM Advisory appointed CAPA after being drafted in to find a way forward for the chain. Dirtybird Restaurants had been suffering a series of financial pressures, exacerbated by difficult trading conditions across the casual dining industry and an unsuccessful refinancing process.
In a public statement BM Advisory said the funding market for small and medium-sized businesses in this sector has narrowed, and the knock-on effects of this led to Dirtybird’s insolvency.
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CAPA appointed after PwC rescues 400 jobs at recycler
Find out moreThe administrators who rescued a waste collection and recycling company, saving more than 400 jobs in the process, have instructed CAPA to audit sites across the business.
CAPA will be conducting a rates audit at properties around the north of England run by MUKR (formerly Mid-UK Recycling Ltd), after business recovery experts at PwC were called in at the 11th hour.
MUKR, based in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, had operated from various sites, recycling agricultural and industrial waste and providing renewable fuels. The business had suffered severe cashflow problems during the 18 months to June 2019, when a large capital expenditure programme, a fire at one of its plants, and a loss-making contract reduced revenues.
In the end, Michael Denny and Toby Underwood, of PwC, were appointed administrators of the business on June 12 2019.
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CAPA to audit stores at Yorkshire retailer
Find out moreThe administrators of a Yorkshire-based linen retailer have instructed CAPA to audit all stores the business occupied, to fuel recoveries for creditors.
CAPA will be undertaking full property audits at all stores occupied by The Towel Rail Ltd, which traded from 19 stores around the north of England as The Yorkshire Linen Company. At its peak, the chain traded from 43 stores nationwide, selling towels, bedding and curtains.
But like other retailers, the firm had recently suffered under the challenging and unpredictable trading conditions now affecting retail chains around the country.
After a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) process ended earlier this year, Francis Newton and Sarah Rayment, from the Leeds office of business advisory firm BDO, were then appointed administrators on June 13.