Cattles losses pushed up to £745m after review
BELEAGUERED credit lender Cattles’s losses in 2008 have been revised upwards to £745m after a forensic review revealed previous management had withheld information over the real state of arrears at its Welcome subsidiary.
The loss, £190m more than initial estimates, was struck after an impairment charge of £794m spread across the firm’s lending businesses.
The figures were delayed from February 2009 after the possibility of “a very significant shortfall in the group’s impairment provisions” became evident.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, the auditor at the time, was dismissed in December last year and replaced by Grant Thornton, who audited these figures.
Executive chairman Margaret Young also warned that another big loss will be posted in 2009: “As we stated on 16 December, the shares are likely to have little or no value.”