PwC in fight with US firms over Lehman May 26, 2009 THE ADMINISTRATORS of Lehman Brothers in the UK and the US are set to face off in a new row about the details of the former Wall Street giant’s bankruptcy proceedings. US administrators including KPMG and Alavarez & Marsal want the bankruptcy to be managed in a globally co-ordinated fashion, with all creditors subject to [...]
British Land shares suffer as values cut May 21, 2009 SHARES in British Land took a battering yesterday after the company wrote down £3.2bn on the value of its property portfolio, reviving fears that banks will suffer huge losses from commercial mortgage lending. Announcing its annual results, the commercial property group said its net asset value tumbled 64 per cent to 398p a share, well [...]
JJB Sports looks forward to future after disastrous year May 21, 2009 JJB Sports yesterday revealed the full horror of the past year, posting a full-year loss of £189.2m. Executive chairman David Jones, the man who formerly led the clothes retailer Next in markedly better times, admitted that under its previous management the group came dangerously close to insolvency. And even at the moment nervousness over the [...]
Business hit by wave of receiverships September 2, 2008 Business failures in Britain are set to soar to 17,000 this year. Government statistics for the first six months of 2008 show them rising by a staggering third over last year’s total of 12,507. And some of Britain’s most well-established companies are among the earliest victims. Those going into receivership, having traded for at least [...]
More firms on brink of bankruptcy July 21, 2008 The number of companies in Britain that are facing bankruptcy rose 685 per cent in the last year, new figures have revealed. Some 4,258 firms faced “critical problems” – defined as being embroiled in some kind of insolvency related legal action – in the second quarter of 2008, compared with just 542 in the same [...]
Debt firm rakes in fees November 2, 2005 Britain’s largest provider of personal debt advice, Debt Free Direct (DFD) has seen its fees top £1m a month for the first time, due to the growing number of people veering towards bankruptcy. The number of people turning to the Lancashire-based company for help in setting up Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) has risen to 266 [...]
60,000 expected to go bankrupt in 2005 October 31, 2005 Personal bankruptcies are rocketing. Figures from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) this week are expected to show that more people are being declared insolvent now than at the height of the 1992 recession. Capital Economics has forecast that there were 14,700 bankruptcies in the last quarter, 45 per cent more than in the [...]
Bank warns of hard times October 26, 2005 Bank of England governor Mervyn King has warned that the British economy is about to embark on a bumpy ride over the coming years after the stability enjoyed in recent times. At a hearing in front of a House of Lords parliamentary committee, King said people should not expect the Bank to “fine tune the [...]
‘Tiny’ brothers facing investigation October 17, 2005 The Mohsan Brothers face a possible claim from Grant Thornton following the accountant’s investigation into the Asian entrepreneurs’ insolvent IT company, Granville Technology. The brothers, who were once worth an estimated £175m, could also be barred from acting as directors of British companies if the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) decides to bring a [...]