Patisserie Valerie board ‘warned on finances’ a year before crisis

The former marketing chief of Patisserie Holdings, who is suing the company for constructive dismissal, has said she raised potential issues about the café chain’s financial figures to its board more than a year before the company said that it had discovered accounting irregularities.

Nicola Hedley included information challenging some of the group’s revenue figures in documents relating to her claim that was sent to board members in July 2017, The Times reported.

Lawyers filed Hedley’s proposed claim at the employment tribunal in Birmingham one month after the board had been alerted in August.

Her case raises more questions about the management of Patisserie Holdings. In October, the company suspended trading of its shares after revealing that it had found accounting irregularities which threatened the future of the company.

The police, the Financial Reporting Council and PwC, on behalf of the company, are looking into apparent errors in Patisserie Valerie’s accounts.

Former finance director Chris Marsh was suspended and has since resigned while chief executive Paul May also departed as the crisis mounted.

Last month, the accountancy watchdog launched an investigation into Grant Thornton’s audit of the company and will also probe the cafe chain’s ex-finance director Marsh.

The company has since appointed an interim chief financial officer.

Nick Perrin has joined new chief executive Steve Francis, who has been in post for almost three weeks.