Neil Woodford offloads stake in Eurocell amid fire sale August 6, 2019 Neil Woodford has sold off his entire stake in Eurocell as the under-fire stockpicker battles to shore up the health of his own troubled equity income fund. The former star investor dropped his 16 per cent holding in the plastic window and door firm Eurocell last week, ramping up his fire sale after a torrid [...]
KPMG fined £3.5m for BNY Mellon report misconduct August 1, 2019 Big Four firm KPMG has been fined £3.5m and one of its directors £52,000 for misconduct related to a client asset report for Bank of New York Mellon in 2011. Watchdog the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) levied a fine of £5m against KPMG which was discounted by 30 per cent for admissions of misconduct. It [...]
City Moves for 1 August – Who’s switching jobs at JBP, Mullenlowe Group and Future Thinking? August 1, 2019 Today’s City Moves includes JBP, Mullenlowe Group and Future Thinking. JBP National communications consultancy JBP has appointed three new directors. Julie Williams originally joined JBP’s Bristol office more than 20 years ago and has helped to transform the company’s financial function. As operations director, she leads the accounts, HR and operations departments. James Hinchcliffe is [...]
Grant Thornton due to quit Sports Direct after €674m Belgian tax bill July 30, 2019 Grant Thornton is reportedly set to quit as Sports Direct’s auditor following unprecedented delays to the publication of the retailer’s annual results on Friday. The auditor will abandon billionaire Mike Ashley after only learning shortly before it was set to sign off on his company’s accounts that Sports Direct owed Belgian tax authorities €674m (£605m), [...]
Patisserie Valerie appoints administrators for Grant Thornton probe July 26, 2019 Patisserie Valerie’s creditors have appointed new administrators to probe the cafe chain’s auditor Grant Thornton. FRP Advisory will take over from KPMG after the financial services firm said it could not investigate Grant Thornton due to a conflict of interest. Grant Thornton audits KPMG’s accounts. Read more: Patisserie Valerie overstated financial position by £94m The [...]
Lloyds’ away win piles pressure on Skeoch July 26, 2019 A score draw? For Standard Life Aberdeen, that’s probably an overly generous classified check after the final whistle on its £109bn fund management dispute with Lloyds Banking Group. It’s hard not to look at the result as anything other than a come-from-behind victory for Britain’s biggest high street lender instead. The £140m cash sum it [...]
MPs call for audit watchdog to reform after endorsing new chair Simon Dingemans July 22, 2019 An influential committee of MPs has called for radical reforms from Britain’s accountancy watchdog after endorsing the appointment of its proposed new chair. Parliament’s Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee (Beis) has given its approval for Simon Dingemans to take over as chair of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), but has urged the group to [...]
City Moves for 16 July – Who’s switching jobs at Seaforth Land, Invesco and ADM Energy? July 16, 2019 Today’s City Moves includes Seaforth Land, Invesco and ADM Energy. Seaforth Land Seaforth Land, the London-focused commercial real estate investor and asset manager, has appointed Lesley Chen Davison as chief investment officer. She will join the company in September 2019. Lesley joins from Delancey where she has worked since 2005 as director of banking and [...]
Deloitte fined £6.5m for role in Serco tagging scandal July 4, 2019 Big-Four auditor Deloitte was today fined £6.5m and “severely reprimanded” for its role in Serco’s electronic tag scandal. The Financial Reporting Council fine was reduced to £4.2m after the auditor admitted misconduct in connection to the scandal Serco yesterday agreed a deferred prosecution agreement with the Serious Fraud Office over three offences of fraud and [...]
IMF chief Christine Lagarde among surprise picks for EU top jobs July 2, 2019 The heads of EU member last night confirmed their preferred candidates for a raft of top jobs, setting the potential future direction of the bloc for the next five years after weeks of frantic negotiations. Germany’s defence minister Ursula von der Leyen was nominated as the new EU commission president, replacing the outgoing Jean-Claude Juncker. [...]