KPMG to extend Cobbetts administration
KPMG is seeking a six month extension to the administration of the former Manchester law firm Cobbetts.
It was due to expire in early February after a year but in a report to creditors KPMG said it needed a further six months to, “facilitate the realisation of the remaining assets of the LLP and to carry out an orderly exit from the administration”.
Cobbetts went into administration in February 2013 after a severe downturn in trading in late 2012. DWF, with whom it had previously held merger talks, picked up its work in progress and some 400 staff in a £3.9m pre-pack deal.
As part of the deal DWF agreed to pay the administrators 25% of any work in progress (WIP) payments or other debts recovered over £9.4m. The report said this revenue stood at £9.2m at the end of October, with outstanding WIP and debtors totalling £2m and £2.5m respectively.
KPMG said its own fees, based on an average rate of £367 an hour, had reached £843,967.
Cobbetts failed with debts of £91.6m but a large proportion of this figure, £75.6m, was associated with rent and lease liabilities.
While secured creditor Lloyds Bank is set to recoup £2.5m of the £7.3m it had lent the firm, unsecured creditors including the landlords of its properties, HM Revenue & Customs, and other funders, are unlikely to see substantial returns.
