Patisserie Valerie locked in talks with bankers as speculation mounts

Patisserie Valerie remains locked in talks with bankers as speculation rises about the future of the troubled bakery.

Parent company Patisserie Holdings reported this morning that: "The company is still in discussions with its bankers to extend the standstill of its bank facilities beyond 18 January and will issue an update when those discussions have concluded."

An existing deal with the company's banks had expired on Friday (18 January).

Last week Patisserie Holdings revealed that the misstatement of its accounts, first revealed in October 2018, was worse than originally believed and called in auditor KPMG to review all options.

The company said that initial indications were that the cash flow and profitability of the business had been overstated in its trading update of 12 October 2018, which reported that the group required an immediate cash injection of no less than £20m without which administrators would need to be called in.

As a result, £15m of new shares were issued to private investors, following a £20m funding injection by executive chairman Luke Johnson.

The company has appointed RSM as auditors but warned that it will take some time to complete a restatement of its accounts.

Last week also saw the resignation of board members Lee Ginsberg and James Horler, leaving Johnson as the as the only remaining board member to pre-date the announcement of suspected fraud in October 2018.

Misstatement of Patisserie Valerie's accounts ‘extensive' involving ‘significant manipulation'>>

Lee Ginsberg resigns from board of Patisserie Valerie>>