Patisserie Valerie, the cake-shop chain that found a potentially fraudulent £40 million black hole in its finances last October, fell into administration today after failing to persuade its bankers not to pull the plug. Chairman Luke Johnson, having lent the company £10 million plus last-minute cash to help pay this month’s wages for 3,000 staff, joins the creditors’ queue. Investors who put £15 million into his attempted rescue late last year are disgruntled, while investigations into the role of auditors Grant Thornton and former finance director Chris Marsh have yet to throw light on what went wrong in the first place.
What’s curious about this mystery story is that it could not have happened to a more genteel brand. One reader tells me he thought Patisserie Valerie’s shares an ideal home for his student daughter’s savings at £3.30 in late 2017 and was cross when she cashed out (‘and partied’) above £4 in May 2018.
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