Pawnbroker Albemarle & Bond has a month to save itself from collapse after talks to raise £35m in emergency funding broke down.
The 230 store pawnbroker revealed on Monday that there was a “high risk” of it breaching its banking covenants.
It had been in talks with leading shareholder EZCorp to underwrite a deeply discounted rights issue.
Albemarle & Bond has been impacted by falling gold price which plummeted more than 30% in the nine months to June but have rallied since July.
The firm, which has lost two-thirds of its value over the past three days, has deferred its covenant test until October 30 with lending banks Barclays and Lloyds and is “focussing its efforts on constructive discussions with the banks to explore all possible options to remedy potential covenant breaches later in the current financial year.”
It is also looking to appoint a chief restructuring officer by October 10. Its debt stood at £51m as of September 30.
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