Drinks giant Diageo drops KPMG for PwC as new rules come in November 11, 2014 Diageo announced yesterday that it had replaced its auditor KPMG with rival PwC, to bring it in line with new regulations compelling companies to consider changing their accountants every decade. The alcoholic drinks giant – which produces Guinness – said PwC’s appointment would take effect for Diageo’s financial year ending 30 June 2016, subject to [...]
Halloween heatwave gives retailers a scary outlook November 10, 2014 Retailers suffered another month of lacklustre sales in October as the mild weather and supermarket price wars continued to weigh on the sector, despite a slight bounce back on the previous month. Like-for-like retail sales were flat in October, an improvement on the 2.1 per cent reported in September but a slowdown on the same [...]
Archbishop of York urges UK businesses to adopt living wage to tackle income inequality November 10, 2014 It is time for UK businesses to start supporting the living wage, the Archbishop of York argued to Britain’s business leaders today. Archbishop John Sentamu delivered a stern and simple message to the Confederation of British Industry annual conference: “Work must pay.” The living wage, which is set at £9.15 per hour in [...]
Small firms put off exporting by legal barriers November 9, 2014 LEGAL barriers are putting off smaller firms from entering overseas markets, new research shows today. The joint study by KPMG and YouGov surveyed 1100 UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The main barriers to entry to foreign markets cited by SMEs were complex legal regimes, followed closely by not having strong enough networks overseas. Currently, [...]
UK construction boom close to pre-crisis level November 9, 2014 THE CONSTRUCTION industry continues to make impressive headway as the sector soars towards pre-crisis levels of output, a set of data shows today. The majority of firms are reporting rising output. The net balance – the per cent of survey respondents answering positively minus those answering negatively – of building contractors that said output rose [...]
Job creation up but skills are in short supply November 6, 2014 JOB CREATION remained strong last month, but a skills shortage could be looming on the horizon. A report released today by consultancy giant KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (Rec) showed that permanent staff placements rose for the 25th consecutive month in October. Meanwhile, another KPMG report warned that a huge skills shortage in the [...]
City Moves for 07 November 2014 | Who’s switching jobs November 6, 2014 Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking Oliver Knight has been appointed head of the bank’s group and public sector team and head of regulatory response. He joins from Accenture, where his experience included four years working in its financial services strategy practice. Deutsche Bank Elizabeth Nolan has been appointed head of custody and clearing at the bank. [...]
City Moves for 05 November 2014 | Who’s switching jobs November 4, 2014 Deloitte The business advisory firm has announced two appointments. David Halstead (pictured) becomes leader of the technology sector, and Mark Lee-Amies has been appointed audit lead for Deloitte’s UK technology, media and telecoms (TMT) industry practice. Henderson Global Investors Glen Finegan has been appointed head of emerging market equities at the asset management firm. He was [...]
Lloyds Banking Group may sell Avant Homes for £170m November 3, 2014 Building firm Avant Homes is considering an offer from a consortium of investment companies made up of Alchemy Partners, Angelo Gordon and Avenue Capital, a source close to the discussions has confirmed. All three of the bidding companies are focused on making distressed investments. Avant is being sold by Lloyds Banking Group, with KPMG advising [...]
City Moves for 30 October 2014 | Who’s switching jobs October 29, 2014 Rule Financial Tony Sodhi has been appointed managing principal at the specialist business consulting group. He was most recently head of post trade operations at a niche consultancy, and has also held senior roles at KPMG/Atos and FX IT. Barclays Solomon Soquar has been appointed head of global investments and solutions in the bank’s wealth [...]