INTERPATH SEEKS £7.2M IN FEES FOR CLAIRE'S ADMINISTRATION

Interpath, the advisory firm that administered the collapse of Claire's Accessories, is seeking around £7.2m in fees for its work, according to new filings. The filings show managing directors have been charging £1,515 an hour since the spring, up from £1,410 previously, with Will Wright, Interpath's UK chief executive, and Chris Pole, head of its Midlands and South team, among those billing at the top rate. The final figure depends on creditors approving a £3.2m increase on top of fees of about £4m already charged, which Interpath attributed to the extra work caused by Claire's collapsing for a second time. Reports gave differing figures for the average hourly rate charged across Interpath's wider team, with one putting it at £883 and another at £909.

Claire's UK entered administration in August 2025 after its American parent sought bankruptcy protection, and Interpath sold the bulk of the business to Modella Capital, the Mayfair-based private equity firm, the following month. The retailer collapsed for a second time in January, resulting in the closure of all roughly 300 standalone stores across the UK and Ireland and the loss of more than 2,000 jobs, ending three decades on the high street. Unsecured creditors, owed an estimated £11.9m, are unlikely to recover any of that money.

An Interpath spokesman said the fees reflected "an uncharacteristically complex and demanding engagement", during which administrators traded the business for 15 weeks while managing more than 2,000 employees across over 300 stores in multiple jurisdictions. Separately, Kroll, which is overseeing the administration of Cauki Ltd, the vehicle Modella used to buy Claire's, has logged fees of about £2.2m at an average rate of £510 an hour. Creditors have yet to approve either set of fees. Modella has acquired several other struggling retailers in recent years.