KPMG appointed administrators as Laterooms and Superbreak collapse affecting thousands of holiday-goers
KPMG has been appointed as administrators to Laterooms and Superbreak following the companies collapses on Thursday.
Both firms are owned by the Malvern Group, which has ceased trading, after Cox & Kings India, which owned a 49 per cent stake in the company, defaulted on loan repayments.
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As a result, Malvern brought in KPMG to conduct an accelerated sales process, but they could not arrange a sale before the company ran out of money.
Tracey Pye and David Costley-Wood from KPMG Restructuring have this morning been appointed as joint administrators by the court and urged those interested in acquiring the business to make their interest known.
“The directors of Malvern Group embarked upon an accelerated sales process to bring further investment into the business,” Pye said in a statement. “However, with the cash position of the company deteriorating rapidly, this process was unfortunately unsuccessful, prompting the directors to take the difficult decision to appoint the administrators.
“Coming in the midst of the summer holidays, we understand this news will be of grave concern to 23,000 LateRooms.com and 19,000 Super Break customers who have future bookings with the Group.
“Detailed information regarding how bookings will be affected can be found on the LateRooms.com and Super Break websites. Unfortunately the customer contact centre is no longer operational, so we kindly request passengers do refer to the information online in the first instance.
“We continue to invite offers for the business, and would urge any interested parties to make their interest known as soon as possible.”
The companies, which are headquartered in Manchester and York, have let go of 210 employees as operations ceased immediately, but kept hold of 43 employees buyers for the business and its assets are sought.
Hotel bookings made through Laterooms are “anticipated” to be safe because payments were not made to the company, they were instead paid to the accommodation in advance for non-refundable stays or require payment on arrival.
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However, all hotel-only or ticket-only bookings through Superbreak have been cancelled. Customers are advised to contact their bank.
Those who have booked flight-inclusive trips with Superbreak are advised to check with Atol, while all gift vouchers purchased through the firm are now also invalid.