Wealth managers Tilney and Smith & Williamson in tie-up talks August 18, 2019 Wealth manager Tilney is in merger talks with fellow-wealth manager Smith & Williamson. A deal would create a firm with revenue of nearly £500m and assets under management of in excess of £45bn. The pair have been in talks for a couple of months, according to people familiar with the situation. Read more: Why times [...]
Grant Thornton quits as Sports Direct auditor August 14, 2019 Sports Direct faces being left without an auditor after Grant Thornton told the retailer it would not apply for reappointment. The decision threatens to leave Sports Direct high and dry as all of the Big Four firms have indicated they are reluctant to take on the role. The Financial Times reported that Sports Direct has [...]
UK lawyers taking Belgian citizenship in case of no-deal Brexit August 13, 2019 UK lawyers in Brussels are taking Belgian citizenship in order to keep practising before the European courts post-Brexit. Brussels is a key centre for competition law and most large international law firms have an office there to advise clients on European law issues. Trevor Soames, a Brussels-based partner with US law firm Quinn Emanuel who [...]
Muddy Waters says Burford has ‘same illness’ that doomed Enron August 13, 2019 Muddy Waters redoubled its assault on litigation funder Burford Capital today, accusing the company of having the “same illness” that brought Enron down. The activist shortseller accused Burford of “addiction to mark-to-model gains financed by debt”. In mark-to-model or fair value accounting, unrealised gains are included on a company’s balance sheet. Muddy Waters said: “We [...]
PwC resigns as Staffline auditor following delay to 2018 results August 12, 2019 Recruiter Staffline said today that is auditor PwC has resigned after it put its audit contract out to tender. Staffline significantly delayed the release of its 2018 results after PwC received an anonymous email the day before their schedule released raising concerns about Staffline’s accounting practices. Read more: Staffline shares plunge after firm reveals £32.6m [...]
Shares in M&C Saatchi plunge after it announces £6.4m charge following accounting errors August 12, 2019 Shares in M&C Saatchi fell more than 20 per cent this morning after it announced a £6.4m charge after discovering accounting errors. The advertising agency network said that following an internal accounting review it had set aside £4.9m related to specific issues identified within its accounts and £1.5m “as a conservative measure to provide for [...]
UK prosecutor handed £85m funding injection August 11, 2019 The UK prosecutor will be handed an extra £85m in funding as part of the Prime Minister’s crackdown on crime, Downing Street said this evening. Boris Johnson has awarded the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) the tranche of funding to help it build capacity and manage its caseloads over the next two years following a string of negative [...]
Deloitte sued for £20m over collapse of storage firm August 11, 2019 A Yorkshire-based businessman is suing big four accountant Deloitte and international law firm Clyde & Co over allegations that Barclays bank exerted “informal control” over the financial giants during the winding down of his firm. Jason Schofield, a businessman who ran Leeds’ based storage firm Rhino Enterprises, is suing two joint administrators at Deloitte and [...]
Shortseller Gotham City piles pressure on under-fire Burford Capital with further criticism August 11, 2019 Shortseller Gotham City Research has added to the pressure on litigation funder Burford Capital which it described today as “inappropriately financed”. Burford’s market value fell by nearly half last week before regaining some of those losses after it was savaged in a report by hedge fund Muddy Waters which has taken a short position in [...]
Window slams shut on litigation funder floats after Burford Capital’s terrible week August 11, 2019 The attack by shortseller Muddy Waters on Burford Capital last week has slammed shut the window on other litigation funders looking to go public. Muddy Waters criticised Burford’s use of fair value accounting – the inclusion of unrealised gains – and accused the funder of “aggressively marking” the value of the cases on its books, something Burford denied. The Aim darling-turned-lame-duck lost [...]