THE UK’s biggest private car park operator which runs some 300 car parks nationwide is on the brink of collapse.
NPC, which employs around 700 people, filed a Notice of Intention to Appoint Administrators for its UK business on Monday – a move that often signals administration could be next.
According to reports, PricewaterhouseCoopers is lined up to handle the potential insolvency process, with the reasons for the financial distress not yet clear at this time.
NCP has been owned since 2017 by Japan’s Park24, alongside the Development Bank of Japan, after being sold by Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund.
Park24 is a major global parking operator, running more than 19,000 sites across eight countries.
Over the years, NCP has changed hands several times, with each owner reshaping how the business is run.
Notably, in 1999, the company launched the UK’s first major public-private parking partnership with Manchester City Council.
It was then sold to Cinven in 2002, to 3i in 2005 in a £555 million deal, and on again to Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund II in 2007.
Under the current Park24-led ownership from 2017, there has been a stronger push towards digital services such as the NCP app and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), designed to make parking and paying quicker and easier.
Recent reports also suggest NCP recorded turnover of £187 million in the financial year ending 2023, down 7.15% on the year before.
In a comment to Sun Motors, Nick Stockley, partner at leading law firm Mayo Wynne Baxter, said NCP’s more profitable sites will likely remain parking venues but with new owners, with the less profitable sites being transferred as land sales.
He added: “These events show the combined impact of flexible working, cost-of-living challenges and fuel prices, as well as the general fall in high street shopping and increase in delivery services.
“There is also the hope that the public are thinking more green and using more eco-friendly modes of transport.
“NCP’s landlords will want to have new owners taking over both the leases and locations.
“The administrators will also be looking to sell the leases to new owners.
“It is unlikely that there will be any value in the NCP brand name and I would not be surprised if the locations, particularly the town centres, will be of interest to residential property developers.
“The more profitable sites at airports and stations are very likely to remain parking venues but with new owners, which should save some jobs.
“The less profitable sites will be transferred as land sales and this will result in job losses.
“NCP will have wanted the security of long-term leases but that has also been their downfall.
“There will also be the inevitable and significant knock-on impact of unpaid creditors who will also face insolvency.”
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