Taxpayer Faces ?50m Bill For Comet Collapse

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  • super jumbe
    V.I.P. Member
    • Dec 2008
    • 11610

    #1

    Taxpayer Faces ?50m Bill For Comet Collapse



    Comet's 50 remaining stores will trade for the final time tomorrow after administrators failed to find a buyer for the electrical retailer.

    The collapse of the firm, founded in Hull in 1933 and which employed around 6,895 people at the time of its collapse, is one of the biggest high street failures since the demise of Woolworths in 2008.

    Administrator Deloitte said in a report published tonight it remained in talks with a small number of parties over the sale of internet operations and the brand.

    With insufficient funds raised from the winding down of the chain, the Government's Redundancy Payments Service will be required to meet the ?23.2m of outstanding redundancy pay, accrued holiday pay and pay in lieu of notice.

    The scale of the problems at Comet were also highlighted in the report, with the chain racking up losses of ?95m in the year to April after also seeing revenues slump by ?200m compared to a year earlier.

    This was followed by a further ?31m loss in the subsequent five months as credit insurers lost confidence and withdrew support for the business.

    Hailey Acquisitions, the investment vehicle put together by Henry Jackson of OpCapita who raised funding from unnamed investors for Comet's takeover from French retail group Darty, is expected to get payments of just under ?50m as a secured creditor - a shortfall of ?95m on the amount owed.

    But it has been reported that unsecured creditors, including HM Revenue and Customs which is owed ?26.2m, will receive nothing.

    Comet was hit by weak high street trading conditions, competition from online rivals and being unable to secure the trade credit insurance needed to safeguard suppliers.

    In particular, it was knocked by the lack of first-time home buyers who were key customers for Comet.

    Holders of ?4.7m of unclaimed Comet gift cards and vouchers are also on the list of unsecured creditors.
    Tools owned: Hammer, Chisel, Crowbar, Punch, Chainsaw, Cutter and Brain!!!

    Did you know People will question all the good things they hear about you but believe all the bad without a second thought.

    Note:
    All information given is to be used for educational purposes only and should not be taken seriously.
  • super jumbe
    V.I.P. Member
    • Dec 2008
    • 11610

    #2
    I thought we were looking for bargains what the fuuuuuck, they run up huge debts, faire enough we the tax payers bail our banks, now we have to bail them out ???

    Why the tax payers are not helping those who can not pay there mortgages?
    Tools owned: Hammer, Chisel, Crowbar, Punch, Chainsaw, Cutter and Brain!!!

    Did you know People will question all the good things they hear about you but believe all the bad without a second thought.

    Note:
    All information given is to be used for educational purposes only and should not be taken seriously.

    Comment

    • GastonJ
      V.I.P. Member
      • Dec 2009
      • 5505

      #3
      Deloitte, for its six week-plus work as administrator, will be paid a fee of ?10.4m. Bet they make sure they get paid first.
      My master plan is to live forever..... going to plan so far
      Despite the cost of living, it's still very popular.
      No good deed goes unpunished....

      Comment

      • smirnoff_rules
        V.I.P. Member
        • Mar 2008
        • 8603

        #4
        wonder how much tax they didnt pay too
        any information provided is for educational/experimental purposes only.

        Comment

        • super jumbe
          V.I.P. Member
          • Dec 2008
          • 11610

          #5
          Why the hell we have to bail them out when they lost the game under bad management, when all our essentials been cut and stopped, child benefit taken away from mothers when our govt declares no more money but they have money to bail bad businesses.
          Tools owned: Hammer, Chisel, Crowbar, Punch, Chainsaw, Cutter and Brain!!!

          Did you know People will question all the good things they hear about you but believe all the bad without a second thought.

          Note:
          All information given is to be used for educational purposes only and should not be taken seriously.

          Comment

          • GastonJ
            V.I.P. Member
            • Dec 2009
            • 5505

            #6
            ah well you need more information as to why/who

            OpCapita under pressure over Comet - FT.com

            Henry Jackson, the former investment banker who runs private investment firm OpCapita, makes a virtue of structuring his deals in a way that means it is extremely unlikely he will lose money for his investors.

            Mr Jackson was head of Deutsche Bank***8217;s consumer and retail practice before embarking on a career in private equity, through Merchant Equity Partners, the predecessor company of OpCapita. He is no stranger to controversy, having sold furniture group MFI before its collapse and after negotiating a ?130m dowry on the original purchase.

            OpCapita also acquired Game Group, the video games retailer, out of administration in March.
            Game insists that it is trading well, and that it is on track to deliver the target of ?20m of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation by Game***8217;s year-end in July.

            I'll bet we're paying Games debts soon as well.
            My master plan is to live forever..... going to plan so far
            Despite the cost of living, it's still very popular.
            No good deed goes unpunished....

            Comment

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