Mouchel set to breach its covenants October 13, 2011 British infrastructure and maintenance group Mouchel said yesterday it was in talks with its lending banks regarding expected covenant breaches caused by a profit warning last week, and named a new interim chairman after incumbent Bo Lerenius resigned. “The board is encouraged that the banks have been supportive and the discussions continue to be constructive [...]
Barnier leak may hang the Big Four out to dry October 10, 2011 RECENTLY a leaked document from the European Commission’s (EC) Michel Barnier made front pages, including that of City A.M.. The details of what could come to be concrete proposals threaten the Big Four accountancy firms – PwC, KPMG, Deloitte and Ernst & Young. The stakes are high: one of London’s, and the UK’s, most successful [...]
SIR FRED GOODWIN SAGA RUNS AND RUNS October 4, 2011 JUST when you thought things couldn’t get any worse for disgraced banker Sir Fred Goodwin, The Capitalist hears the former RBS CEO was once snubbed in favour of a company that had recently given half of Glasgow diarrhoea. The story starts in 2003, when BBC Scotland’s head of news Atholl Duncan, needing a change of [...]
Pause tax to boost jobs, say recruiters October 4, 2011 THE SLOWEST growth in job vacancies for two years was recorded in September by the KPMG/Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s (REC) monthly report on jobs, out today. For permanent staff placements the report’s index has fallen to 51.2, down from 60.6 in April. REC boss Kevin Green is calling on the chancellor to pause national insurance [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 3, 2011 Palamon Capital Partners The private equity firm has appointed Julian Carreras as a principal in its pan-European team, which comprises professionals from eight countries. The move marks a return to the company for Carreras, who previously worked at Palamon Capital Partners between 2003 and 2006, joining from Goldman Sachs. Between 2006 and 2011, Carreras held [...]
PwC revenue hits record high October 3, 2011 Strong gains in its consulting business helped PwC increase revenues by ten per cent in the past year, it has said, returning it to its position as the world’s biggest professional services firm. PwC’s global network of firms reported record revenue of $29.2bn (£18.7bn) for the year that ended June 30, up from $26.6bn in [...]
Alexon rescued after pre-pack deal with Sun Capital gets the go-ahead September 29, 2011 FASHION retailer Alexon has become the latest casualty of the economic downturn, going into administration before being sold to private equity firm, Sun Capital Partners. The so called pre-pack administration with KPMG, which secures continuing employment for Alexon’s staff of about 2,700, was agreed yesterday after the firm failed to secure additional funding, leaving it [...]
UK’s 50p top rate slammed September 28, 2011 ONLY three other European Union states have a higher top rate of income tax than the UK, consultancy group KPMG said today. Outside the EU, just Japan and the small Caribbean island of Aruba have a higher top rate than the UK, out of 96 countries surveyed by the group. Western Europe remains the region [...]
EU tables Tobin tax plans September 28, 2011 The European executive has formally tabled plans for a union-wide tax on financial transactions to come into force from 2014. The European Commission has proposed the 0.1 per cent “Tobin Tax” on all stock and bond trades, and an 0.01 per cent levy on derivatives trades, to raise a projected €57bn (£49.5bn) per year. The [...]
Brussels wages war on big four September 26, 2011 RADICAL plans to force the UK’s biggest auditing firms to hive off their huge consultancy arms or ban them from cross-selling services to their clients have been tabled by European authorities, it emerged yesterday. The European Commission has set out new draft regulations to drastically curb the UK’s Big Four accountants Ernst & Young, PwC, [...]