It looks like it could be the end of the line for Coffee Republic, the chain of coffee shops founded in 1995 by brother and sister Bobby and Sahar Hashemi.
After the stock market closed the company announced it had asked for its Aim-listed shares to be suspended at 22p “pending clarification of the financial position of certain subsidiaries including Coffee Republic (UK) Limited, the principal UK operating company.”
It said documents had been lodged in court in anticipation of the appointment of administrators to these subsidiaries.
From its first store in South Molton Street in London, the company expanded to 195 coffee shops around the world, with 184 in the UK including concessions in Cineworld and Greene King. Its overseas outlets include coffee bars in Malta, Dubai, Bulgaria, Kuwait and Turkey.
In its most recent set of results – for the half year to September 2008 – it reported a loss of £527,000 but said it had agreed a refinancing with Barclays bank to leave it debt free.
The coffee market is intensely competitive, with smaller chains facing the huge buying power of the likes of Starbucks and Whitbread’s Coffee Costa.
No one from Coffee Republic was available for comment.
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