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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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.
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CAPA appointed on outsourcer with £900m government contracts
Find out moreThe administrators of an outsourcer that runs probation and employment services have instructed CAPA to conduct audits across the business.
CAPA will be auditing business rates paid out at nearly 50 sites run by Working Links (Employment) Ltd, a government outsourcer with over 1,000 staff that operates probation companies and helps people back into work after long periods of unemployment.
Working Links had previously posted a £25m drop in turnover and a loss of £8.6m in its accounts for 2017. More recently, the business had experienced difficulties in delivering a rehabilitation programme for offenders on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.
Martin Armstrong and James Patchett, of the business advisory and restructuring firm Turpin Barker Armstrong, were appointed joint administrators of Working Links on February 14 2019.
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CAPA attends MIPIM Cannes 2019
Find out moreCAPA are delighted to have attended the MIPIM 2019 a 4 day real estate event from 12-15th March 2019 in Cannes, France.
Established in 1990, MIPIM is a real estate event to meet the most influential players from all sectors of the international real estate industry.
It brings the entire value chain together and gives unrivalled access to the greatest number of development projects and sources of capital worldwide.
This 2019 edition gathered 26 800 players from all sectors of the international property industry with more than 5,400 investors, 560 political leaders coming from more than 100 countries.
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CAPA accelerates recoveries on national tyre chain
Find out moreCAPA has been appointed to audit properties across a tyre company that covered 80 percent of the UK at the point of its collapse.
Tyres on the Drive, based in Crewe, offered mobile tyre fitting and puncture repair services from eight regional hubs around Britain. At its peak the business posted turnover of more than £15m and employed 170 staff.
More recently the company endured severe financial difficulties and on January 30 2019 it entered insolvency, with Sarah O’Toole, Jon Roden and Edward Williams, of the business advisory firm Grant Thornton, being appointed as administrators.
They have now instructed CAPA to undertake property audits of 10 sites run by the tyre chain. This means CAPA’s Audit team will now use bespoke software to trawl through all costs relate to the properties, such as business rates, utility bills and service charges.
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CAPA strikes contract on bowling chain
Find out moreThe administrators of a bowling chain with sites in London and around the south east have appointed CAPA to conduct audits on all the firm’s locations.
Duff & Phelps, the business advisory and insolvency company, instructed CAPA to undertake rates audits on 12 bowling alleys run by MFA Bowl Ltd, which entered administration in February.
Based in Lewisham, London, MFA Bowl operates bowling alleys in towns including Whitstable, Chichester and Newbury, but had recently endured financial difficulties and adverse trading conditions.
Allan Graham and Phil Duffy, of Duff & Phelps, were appointed as joint administrators on February 13 2019.
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CAPA appointed on Italian café chain
Find out moreThe liquidator of a premium Italian café chain – which served diners in prime London locations including one opposite Selfridges – has appointed CAPA to audit the sites.
David Rubin & Partners, which is winding down Caffe Fratelli Limited after the coffee and deli chain entered liquidation, has appointed CAPA to undertake property audits of five cafés across the business.
Although the company had been trading for 17 years from sites dotted around London’s busiest shopping areas, Caffe Fratelli had suffered substantial financial problems throughout 2017 and 2018, posting a loss of £2.9m for 2017.
By the time it entered insolvency in October 2018, when Stephen Katz of David Rubin & Partners was appointed liquidator, the business had racked up debts of £3.5m to creditors.
As David Rubin & Partners has now issued the property audit instruction, CAPA’s Audit team will use bespoke software to carry out a forensic analysis of utility bills, service charges and rates paid out at each location. The team will look to uncover multiple elements such as errors or anomalies in the costs, before recovering the sums for Caffe Fratelli’s creditors.
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ICAS Burns Supper
Find out moreCAPA were delighted to have attended the ICAS Burns Supper on January 17th at the Ghillie Dhu in Edinburgh with the entertainment on the night being the internationally acclaimed bagpipe band The Red Hot Chilli Pipers.
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CAPA appointed on renowned Scottish hotels
Find out moreThe administrators of two Scottish hotels famously used as wedding venues have called in CAPA to help maximise the sums recovered for creditors.
CAPA will be conducting a rates audit on the Burnhouse Manor Hotel in North Ayrshire and Crowwood House Hotel in North Lanarkshire, after corporate advisory firm FRP Advisory were appointed as administrators of both venues.
The parent company of the two hotels had been impacted by severe trading conditions and a significant tax bill which HMRC called in towards the end of 2018.