Key facts
- National Car Parks (NCP) has entered administration.
- PwC has been appointed as joint administrators for NCP.
- The company is exploring the sale of all or part of its business.
- NCP cites decreased demand post-COVID-19 and inflexible leases as reasons for its financial difficulties.
- All NCP sites remain operational, and employees are continuing in their roles.
National Car Parks (NCP), one of the UK's largest car park operators, has entered administration, putting 682 jobs at risk. PwC has been appointed as joint administrators to stabilize the business and assess options for its future, including the potential sale of all or part of the company.
The company's performance has deteriorated over several years, particularly post-COVID-19, as demand for parking has not recovered to historic levels, especially in city-center and commuter locations. Shifts in commuting and driving patterns have impacted site occupancy, while a high concentration of long-term, inflexible leases has prevented NCP from reducing costs in line with revenue or exiting loss-making sites, resulting in ongoing trading losses.
NCP now has insufficient cash to meet its financial obligations. The administrators will continue to trade the business for the time being, with all sites remaining open and employees continuing in their roles. They will engage with landlords, employees, and other stakeholders to assess and improve the viability of sites. The parent company, Japan's Park24, also cited higher energy prices due to the war in Ukraine as a contributing factor to NCP's financial pressures.
Gervais Williams, chair of equities at Premier Miton, noted that the shift to online shopping has impacted demand for car parking, and NCP had significant debt that it could no longer service due to a series of bad years.