John Lewis is ranked among influential list November 14, 2010 RETAIL giant John Lewis has surged into a ranking of Britain’s most influential brands, as the group’s partnership approach to doing business and a record year for till receipts propelled it into the top three. TLG’s annual index of UK Business Thought Leaders ranks John Lewis below Apple and Google but above other respected names [...]
Bidders circle as Pontin’s is placed into adminstration November 14, 2010 THE administrators for Pontin’s plan to take a measured approach to the sale of any assets, believing the business is in a strong position to continue operating. Jane Moriarty, joint administrator and restructuring partner at KPMG, which was appointed administrator to Pontin’s on Friday evening, said she was not looking for a fire sale. The [...]
CITY SETS OFF HALF A TONNE OF FIREWORKS November 14, 2010 LONDONERS were treated to one of the capital’s biggest public fireworks displays of the year on Saturday, as the Lord Mayor’s grand finale boasted nearly half a tonne of fireworks. The show’s 800-year old parade was three miles long this time – twice as long as the route it followed from Temple to Bank – [...]
Retail sales failed to pick up in October November 8, 2010 RETAIL sales failed to revive in October as weak consumer confidence in the lead up to the comprehensive spending review undermined growth the British Retail Consortium (BRC) will say today. The latest figures show total retail sales grew by 2.4 per cent year-on-year in October but this compared to growth of 5.9 per cent for [...]
Threshers fails in sell-off as creditors left high and dry November 8, 2010 FEWER than a third of Threshers stores have reopened as off-licences after the chain folded last year, administrators revealed yesterday. Only 400 of the firm’s 1,400 stores were sold, with most being bought by small off-licence chains, said accountancy firm KPMG which is still working on the administration. The other 1,000 were returned to landlords. [...]
Connaught debt to reach £100m after bills found November 7, 2010 Collapsed property services firm Connaught’s debts could pass £100m after the administrator KPMG discovered 50,000 additional invoices. Bills for everything from Dairy Crest milk to RBS bank loans have been left unpaid, according to a report by KPMG following Connaught’s collapse in September. Unsecured lenders exposed to the firm’s social maintenance arm will recover at [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 5, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES NEW HOLE IN CONNAUGHT DEBT The scale of debt at Connaught, the collapsed property services group, will be greater than previously thought after administrators found 50,000 invoices that the company had not accounted for. Management accounts had led administrators from KPMG to believe that the social housing maintenance arm of Connaught owed £46m [...]
Lords told big four auditors pose systemic risk to British economy November 2, 2010 THE dominance of the “big four” auditing firms poses a systemic risk, the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee was told yesterday. Managing partner of auditor BDO Simon Michaels said: “If one of the big four were to exit the market, without a plan B, there could be chaos.” The lords were asking about the [...]
Pace of staff recruitment slows down November 2, 2010 STAFF appointments rose at the weakest rate for 14 months in October, with the pace of recruitment slowing in both permanent and temporary staff placings. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG Report on Jobs – published today – found overall demand for staff was reported to have increased at the weakest rate for [...]
Lords query lack of audit competition November 1, 2010 THE House of Lords’ Economic Affairs Committee will today question industry representatives on whether lack of competition among auditors could have contributed to the financial crisis. Representatives from RSM Tenon, Grant Thornton, Mazars and BDO will face questions in the afternoon on whether the dominance of the “big four” auditing firms – Deloitte, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers [...]