Patisserie Holdings (CAKE) est fini. The owner of the Patisserie Valerie café chain announced that unless it receives an immediate injection of cash, then it will be no more. A “material shortfall between the reported financial status and the current financial status of the business” has been found during an emergency review of the business conducted over the past 24 hours. Without further funding, there is “no scope” for the business to continue trading.
This announcement follows yesterday’s surprise update that fraudulent accounting had led to a misstatement of its financial position. Sky news reported that the accounting void could be around £20m, although the news that an "immediate injection of capital" is required to keep the business afloat suggests that the figure might be higher.
Chief financial officer Chris Marsh has been suspended. It also came to light that Patisserie’s principle trading subsidiary, Stonebeach Limited, had filed a winding-up petition in September relating to £1.14m it owed to HMRC.