Carluccio’s faces collapse as virus crisis bites
CARLUCCIO’S is set to become the latest restaurant casualty of the coronavirus pandemic as it prepares to call in administrators, threatening more than 2,000 jobs.
The Italian chain, which was founded by the late chef Antonio Carluccio in 1999, is understood to have lined up FRP Advisory for a potential administration which could occur within days, Sky News reported.
Carluccio’s joined swathes of pubs and restaurants this week when it chose to withhold rent payments after a government-enforced lockdown required hospitality, leisure and retail firms to close their doors.
It comes a day after Chiquito, the Mexican chain owned by The Restaurant Group, filed for administration, putting around 1,000 jobs at risk.
The coronavirus outbreak is understood to have been the death knell for Carluccio’s, which was already struggling following an ambitious expansion that left it with huge rent bills.
Carluccio’s has more than 70 restaurants across the UK, but closed around 35 sites last year as part of a company voluntary arrangement, a type of insolvency procedure used by companies to stave off collapse.
Mark Jones, the chief executive, is said to have forgone his salary for March after writing to staff to tell them they would only get half their pay for the month.
Rent-to-own chain Brighthouse is also on the verge of collapse after investors withdrew support for a proposed restructuring, putting 2,400 jobs at risk.
The retailer is expected to fall into administration as soon as Monday after suffering an influx of compensation claims for selling to people who could not repay, according to Sky News.
A spokesman said: “The national response to the Covid-19 pandemic has required us to prioritise the health and well-being of our staff and customers, in particular by closing all stores in the last few days.”
Meanwhile, satellite maker Oneweb is expected to collapse after funding from backers Softbank fell through, putting 500 jobs under threat.
The British start-up, whose backers include Sir Richard Branson, was at one stage valued at $3.25bn (£2.6bn) and had raised billions of pounds from investors. Sources said it could file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US.
Oneweb had been in talks with Softbank to raise as much as $2bn in new funding before the coronavirus outbreak struck financial markets and sent shares tumbling.
It had planned to launch more than 600 satellites to provide broadband data across the world.
The project, originally backed by Branson’s Virgin Group, Airbus and later Japan’s Softbank, saw billions of dollars sunk into launches and satellite manufacturing.
But just as Oneweb launched 30 new satellites from Kazakhstan, talks with Softbank fell through.