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 on road to rent savings for Go Mobile
Find out moreCAPA is accelerating negotiations with landlords of properties occupied by Go Mobile, the smartphone retailer, to rebase rents and secure consensual exits on leases.
CAPA’s Property team is now on track to agree consensual exits on 20 leases and a rebase of rents on a further 32 across the estate.
To date, the average surrender penalty paid to landlords has been three months’ rent, which includes dilapidations and landlords’ costs.
CAPA has also secured consensual exits on leases, critical rent savings and new lease terms, for many other retailers with large estates including Karen Millen and Crabtree & Evelyn.
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CAPA cuts rent on Karen Millen stores to zero
Find out moreCAPA has completed a range of transactions for women’s fashion operator Karen Millen across 15 of the company’s sites.
The deals and agreements secured by CAPA’s Property team include lease exits, long term regears and shorter, more flexible leases.
The team negotiated with landlords whose property locations included Glasgow, Guildford, Highcross in Leicester, Liverpool One, Meadowhall in Sheffield and West Quay in Southampton. In several cases, CAPA secured agreements to rebase store rents to zero.
In 2017, CAPA’s Property team were initially appointed to dispose of surplus stores and renegotiate leases on stores run by Karen Millen.
Many other household-name retailers, such as Crabtree & Evelyn and Go Mobile, have benefited from rent savings and consensual lease exits, after calling in CAPA to negotiate with landlords.
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CAPA instructed on digital design agency
Find out moreThe liquidators of a design agency, whose client base spanned the NHS and Michelin-starred restaurants, have instructed CAPA to help boost recoveries for creditors.
CAPA will be auditing rates paid out at all properties across Visualize Ltd, based in Leyland, Lancashire, after the company entered liquidation in May. The agency had been one of the country’s leading providers of digital signage, TV commercial and social media marketing services.
Visualize’s clients included national leisure centres, grand theatres and fine dining restaurants, but the business had suffered significant financial problems in the past two years, with debts accruing in 2017 and 2018, while profits declined.
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Jamie’s Italian administrators appoint CAPA
Find out moreThe administrators of Jamie Oliver’s restaurant empire have instructed CAPA to audit properties across the chain, as they seek to recover funds for creditors.
CAPA will undertake an accounts payable and property audit of 26 sites, including Jamie’s Italian eateries, after the group succumbed to the severe trading conditions now hitting the UK’s casual dining market.
The Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group employed around 1,300 staff with 25 outlets around the UK, including 22 under the Jamie’s Italian brand, along with Jamie Oliver’s Diner at Gatwick Airport, plus Barbecoa and Fifteen in London.
The group had recently secured additional investment and since the beginning of 2019, Jamie Oliver had provided another £4m to support the business.
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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 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.