TV shopping channel Sit-up calls on creditors to back life-saving CVA

Entrepreneurs Paul and Val Wright, the couple who launched Ideal Shopping, plan to rescue Sit-up by investing £6m but the funding is conditional on the CVA being passed. If it is not, Sit-up has warned it will go bust.

Sit-up TV has appointed KPMG to run the CVA and is calling on creditors that are owed money to accept 9p to 30p in the pound.

CVAs have proved a controversial restructuring option in retail. Store groups including Blacks, Focus DIY and JJB all called in administrators despite going through a CVA process beforehand.

Creditors’ will be asked to vote on whether to pass the Sit-up CVA at a meeting on March 18 at KPMG offices. The business will require 75% of creditors by value to vote in favour in order for the CVA to pass.

Tnui Capital acquired Sit-up in December 2013. It broadcasts to more than 12 million homes, carrying more than 300 hours of live demonstrations each week.

Tnui Capital chief executive Bryan Green said:  “A first class team has been assembled to drive through the restructuring of Bid TV and Price Drop.  We believe the business will be preserved through a CVA which will save 350 jobs.”

KPMG partner Will Wright said: “In recent months, Sit-up Limited has undertaken an enormous amount of work to restore margins and is developing a new operating model which will see it link with its suppliers in a more direct way.

“If agreed, the CVA, coupled with the investment from Paul and Val Wright, will be the final piece of the jigsaw, enabling the company to right-size its infrastructure and putting it on a much sounder footing.”