# Pico's Limited (06430798)

> Why UK company 06430798 went into administration, from the administrators' statement filed at Companies House, by companydig. Interactive version: https://companydig.co.uk/company/06430798

- **Status:** Administration ended
- **Administration began:** 2020-03-25
- **Administrators:** Irvin Milton Cohen, Gary Paul Shankland
- **Administrators' firm:** Begbies Traynor
- **Incorporated:** 2007-11-19
- **Location:** London
- **Industry:** 56101 Licenced restaurants

## Why it went into administration

- Weak consumer demand
- HMRC / tax arrears
- Creditor pressure / legal action
- Rising costs / inflation
- Brexit

## From the administrators' statement

The Company had a difficult first half of the financial year 2018/2019. Revenues were most impacted by the exceptional summer heat and the football World Cup, as welt as generally low consumer confidence as a result of Brexit. The poor trading was exacerbated by costs involved with perfecting the new cooking methodology and the opening of two sites, Leicester and St Albans, which did not perform at the levels forecast. The cash burn rate was higher than expected on a monthly basis; however, the directors were confident that the opening of a new flagship-size store at the O2 in London, along with the improvements in margins, labour and revenues, would reverse this trend.

However, the opening of the O2 restaurant proved to be difficult, Costs came in approximately £80,000 over budget (30%) and the store faited to perform in line with the expectations taken account of in the budget. The O©2 store had been chosen by the directors because of its large footfall from the O2 Arena events, as well as the new outlet shopping mall, due for completion prior to the opening of the store in March 2019. However, it tumed out that significant numbers of the new stores near the location had not yet been developed or opened, resulting in the O2 having poor footfall. Weekly sales were budgeted at approximately £20,000 per week; instead, sales averaged between £5,000 and £13,000 per week, depending upon what events were taking place at the O2 Arena at that time.

A number of the Company's other restaurants were also suffering from poor trading and increased costs associated with the newly implemented cooking methodology. This, coupled with creditor pressure from several parties, exacerbated the strain on the Company’s cash flow. This took considerably longer to recover from than had been anticipated and, whilst trying to ensure trading operations continued and trade creditors were paid on time, unfortunately, the cash flow position continued to deteriorate.

Statement of proposals: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/06430798/filing-history/MzI2MjYxNzkwMGFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf&download=0
Companies House register: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/06430798

Contains public sector information from Companies House, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.