The most recent financials revealed pre-tax loss of £9.9 million ($17.5 million) on revenue of £112 million in 2016. Sales were down 3 per cent. The UK business entered into a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) believing it can trade out of its troubles.
In late February, Business Insider asked Ben Shaughnessy, chief operating officer of the Australian Jamie’s Italian chain, to comment on the financial health of the local business amid the British problems. He did not respond.
But company documents lodged on Monday with the corporate regulator, ASIC, reveal that serious concerns about the Australian business were apparent just weeks later.
On March 22, Shaughnessy and fellow director Paul Devlin met with advisers from KordaMentha and BDO to discuss the company’s financial position and efforts underway at that point to sell the business. If the sale fell through, the directors asked for insolvency options, according to BDO.
When he announced plans to buy the Jamie’s Italian chain in 2016, Oliver said that ‘everything I’ve ever dreamed of has happened’.Credit: Network Ten
On April 6, KordaMentha emailed BDO to arrange a meeting with the Jamie Oliver group’s Australian directors to discuss voluntary administration. The…