Patisserie Valerie at risk of closure

The owner of Patisserie Valerie was plunged into financial crisis on Wednesday after it was revealed that the company needs “an immediate injection of capital” to continue trading.

The stark statement comes after the firm uncovered “significant, and potentially fraudulent, accounting irregularities.”

The 92-year old café chain that specialises in hand-made cakes has more than 200 retail stores and more than 2,500 employees.

The company announced earlier this week that their finance director, Chris Marsh, has been suspended from his role.

Main trading company, Stonebeach Limited, had been filed in court by HM Revenue & Customs over an unpaid £1.14m tax bill, pausing deliveries to the cake chain until the position of the company had been clarified.

In their statement on Thursday, Patisserie Valerie said that it had "undertaken further investigation into the financial status of the company" and will “assess all options available to the business to keep it trading”.

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