The Story of the Demise of Cash Processing Solutions

In the January issue of Currency News™, we covered the closure of Cash Processing Solution (CPS), the second supplier of high-speed sorting systems after Giesecke+Devrient, and the creation of a series of new entities to continue with the profitable software and services side of the business.

Since then, the company responsible for finding a way forward for CPS, including a potential sales, Interpath Ltd, has issued its report into its winding up. The report describes the events leading up to CPS going into administration, the actions taken and options considered, and the decisions taken.

In brief, CPS had exhausted its £15 million overdraft and financing facilities and needed an additional £3 million to continue trading. Unable to secure this sum of money, it entered into administration.

CPS was incorporated in March 2016 when the business was bought from De La Rue. The owner, CPS Topco, also owned Cash Processing Solutions Inc, which manufactured sorting machines in the US. CPS directly owned 16 overseas subsidiaries and indirectly controlled another four. These subsidiaries were for the servicing and sales of machines and software in their local jurisdictions.

CPS had its head office in a leased building in Basingstoke and a leased operational site in Portsmouth in the UK with about 90 employees. Worldwide, CPS employed about 500 people.

Cashflow

A combination of slow market conditions, contract delays and supply chain disruption, largely brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, meant that revenues and earnings declined.