ABI director general to take up partner role at KPMG May 19, 2021 Huw Evans, director general at the Association of British Insurers (ABI), will join KPMG as a partner next January in the Big Four firm’s insurance and long-term savings division. Evans had been director general at the ABI for more than six years, during which he represented the insurance industry through Brexit, Solvency II implementation, pension [...]
Funding Circle revises up earnings expectations May 19, 2021 Funding platform Funding Circle has revised up its earnings estimates after its involvement with the Covid support scheme gave a boost to the business. In a market update today, the group said it now expects its H1 2021 total income to be no lower than £120m and AEBITDA to be no lower than £40m [...]
Carillion liquidators secure funding to take KPMG to court for audit failures May 19, 2021 Carillion’s liquidators have secured a £250m funding deal with a litigation funder to take KPMG to court for audit failures. Litigation Capital Management (LCM) will fund a claim against the Big Four firm in the Commercial Court of the High Court. Carillion’s liquidators are taking KPMG to court for perceived audit failures, resulting in losses [...]
UK CPI: Inflation rate surges to 1.5 per cent in April May 19, 2021 UK inflation more than doubled to 1.5 per cent in April, up from 0.7 per cent in March, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said this morning. Economists had forecast a rise of 1.4 per cent, as a jump in electricity and gas bills pushed inflation higher. Core inflation, which excludes energy prices and other [...]
KPMG Chair: We can only tackle social mobility once we confront falling numeracy levels May 19, 2021 Numeracy skills are vital to us all, whether at work or simply helping us to navigate daily life, like managing money. Despite this fact, far too many people are lacking in confidence where our maths ability is concerned. In fact, nearly half of the UK’s working population has the expected numeracy level of a primary school child. [...]
UK unemployment rate unexpectedly falls to 4.8 per cent May 18, 2021 Britain’s unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 4.8 per cent between January and March, official figures showed this morning. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to hold at 4.9 per cent during the first quarter of the year, given that the country was in lockdown. The rate of employment in the UK increased for the fifth [...]
BDO becomes latest auditor to tell staff to work where they like May 17, 2021 BDO has told staff to decide where they would like to work post-pandemic, in a move that adopts a more flexible model than some of its rivals. The challenger audit firm will ask staff to work wherever is most productive, depending upon the task they are doing. For most people this will likely mean a [...]
Miner Petropavlovsk strikes gold despite challenges at the top May 17, 2021 Petropavlovsk produced 548.1koz of gold last year, a six per cent increase on the previous year, despite a difficult period that saw a bloody boardroom battle and new CEO. The miner saw an 18 per cent decline to 385.6koz of own gold produced, but a 256 per cent increase to 162.5koz of gold produced from [...]
Pendragon facing massive shareholder revolt over pay at AGM – report May 14, 2021 Car dealer Pendragon is facing a huge shareholder revolt over its chief executive’s bonus package at next week’s annual general meeting (AGM). According to Sky News, several of the firm’s directors could be voted off the board in protest over the renumeration of its executives. It reported that remuneration committee chair Mike Wright was looking [...]
High Court gives Virgin Active CVA green light in further blow for landlords May 12, 2021 Landlords have lost their legal challenge against Virgin Active’s restructuring plan, in the second high profile defeat for commercial property owners this week. Today’s High Court judgement will come as a further blow to landlords hoping to challenge tenants over Company Voluntary Arrangements. It comes after the court gave New Look the green light to [...]