Southern Cross aims for rent deal March 27, 2011 STRUGGLING care home operator Southern Cross is preparing for “hardball negotiations” with landlords to cut its massive rental bill, a person close to the firm said yesterday. Southern Cross last week wrote to around a third of its landlords to request a switch from quarterly to monthly payments, after taking on KPMG’s Richard Fleming and [...]
Corporate tax cut – but not for the banks March 23, 2011 BUSINESSES welcomed George Osborne’s decision to go further and faster in lowering corporation tax in yesterday’s Budget. But banks didn’t get the cut, with the Treasury increasing its bank levy for the second time in as many months in order to offset the gain they would have received from the corporate tax measure. Osborne announced [...]
Banks face probe for their use of Big Four auditors March 23, 2011 THE GOVERNMENT has asked regulators to investigate whether banks help to entrench the Big Four auditing firms’ dominance through restrictive lending agreements with companies. The Budget included a call to the Office of Fair Trading to probe whether bank covenants lock out smaller auditors. The Financial Reporting Council had expressed concern to lawmakers last year [...]
Science and vocational training in focus to boost workforce skills March 23, 2011 VOCATIONAL training and apprenticeships received a boost as chancellor George Osborne unlocked more funding yesterday. Admitting that the UK has a lower-skilled workforce than the US, Germany and France, Osborne said he would spend £180m to create up to 50,000 new apprenticeship places in the next four years. At least 24 new vocation-focused university technical [...]
Charities get taxation boost March 23, 2011 CHANGES to inheritance tax rules in yesterday’s Budget means that those leaving 10 per cent or more of their estate to charity will now also get a 10 per cent tax relief on their donations. Charities welcomed the move, but accountancy firm KPMG called the 10 per cent target for donations “ambitious”, and said the [...]
UK to probe bank covenants favouring big auditors March 23, 2011 The government has asked regulators to investigate whether banks help to entrench the “Big Four” auditing firms’ dominance through restrictive lending agreements with companies. Chancellor George Osborne’s Budget included a call to the Office of Fair Trading to probe whether bank covenants lock out smaller auditors. The Financial Reporting Council had expressed concern to lawmakers [...]
Google and BRC in web plan March 22, 2011 THE British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Google are tomorrow set to reveal plans for a new quarterly report which will monitor online retail sales. John Gillan, Google’s senior industry retail head, will unveil the BRC – Google Online Retail Monitor (ORM) tomorrow. The ORM will measure traffic for the part of the retail sector operating [...]
UK firms optimistic over growth March 21, 2011 Almost three quarters (72 per cent) of firms report that they can grow despite the government’s austerity measures, a survey for consultants KPMG revealed yesterday. However, over half (52 per cent) said that complex regulations were the greatest obstacle to their expansion. “Businesses need assurance that relief will be coming their way to minimise red [...]
HMV meets banks on loan facility fears March 16, 2011 TROUBLED music retailer HMV was yesterday preparing a presentation to its bank lenders due early next week as it works to resolve an impending breach of a loan covenant. HMV is meeting the banks on a weekly basis as it attempts to renegotiate terms of a £240m loan facility and is taking debt advice from [...]
Finance boss Solomons steps into the breach March 16, 2011 IHG chief finance officer Richard Solomons has been at the heart of the company’s expansion in China and rebranding of its Holiday Inns. He has been a constant travelling companion of outgoing chief executive Andy Cosslett as the pair turned round the company’s fortunes after the recession. The Manchester University student, now 48, qualified as [...]