WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 12, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES NATIONAL EXPRESS FACES EUROSTAR BILLNational Express could be saddled with a bill of up to £32m to cover losses made by Eurostar, the cross-Channel rail service. The indebted transport group, which gives up its lossmaking East Coast rail franchise tonight, is the leading shareholder in a consortium that manages the UK end of [...]
Accountants can save the world, report November 11, 2009 THERE has been no shortage of talk about the forthcoming Copenhagen climate change conference in December, at which presidents and prime ministers will discuss ways to save the world by reducing carbon emissions. Already, many suspect that little will be decided at the meeting. The reality is that if the world is saved, it will [...]
Director out as Aero’s bank calls in KPMG November 11, 2009 AERO Inventory, a parts supplier for the airline industry that was contemplating a move from the junior market to a full listing less than two months ago, yesterday ended up in the hands of the administrators. Accounting group KPMG yesterday took control of the group on behalf of a group of banks led by Lloyds [...]
Professional services are a bedrock of City success November 11, 2009 AN insurer talking to accountants may not sound like much of a crowd-drawer in the traditional sense. But when Lord Levene, chairman of Lloyd’s of London, addressed a breakfast briefing at Chartered Accountants Hall yesterday, his comments were enough to spark real interest among the audience. Levene’s salient point was that we cannot allow one [...]
Nuclear sites get the all clear November 9, 2009 NUCLEAR POWER expansion got the go-ahead from the government yesterday, after energy secretary Ed Miliband named 10 approved sites in England and Wales for future power stations. Miliband said the list includes German utility RWE’s plans for Kirksanton, a site in Cumbria, which currently has no nuclear facilities. But he rejected EDF Energy’s proposal for [...]
EX-BANKER TRIES HIS LUCK WITH SEX TOYS November 9, 2009 OF ALL the career paths followed by former City types who have lost jobs in the recession, this one really does take the biscuit. Matt Thomas, a former manager in corporate finance at Seymour Pierce, decided to make the most of the opportunity when he was made redundant last November by setting up a joint [...]
OFT to be left out of pocket by Threshers November 8, 2009 THE Office of Fair Trading is set to be one of the biggest casualties from the demise of high street off-licence firm First Quench Retailer, as it is owed millions of pounds. First Quench Retailing, the parent company behind Threshers and Wine Rack off-licences, was one of six firms fined £173.3.m by the OFT last [...]
Big Four faces auditing probe November 5, 2009 THE big four accountancy firms have been put on notice over possible conflicts of interest stemming from the growing overlap of internal and external audit services. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has launched a three-month inquiry after details of a deal between KPMG and Rentokil were made public. The controversial contract provides a “deeper” service [...]
Off-licence administrator begins to slash workforce November 5, 2009 THE administrators of the collapsed company behind the Threshers and Wine Rack off-licence chains are to shut hundreds of shops and cut more than 1,700 jobs, it emerged yesterday. KPMG said 373 stores owned by First Quench Retailing will close, leading to more than 1,738 redundancies. First Quench Retailing, which went into administration last week, [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 4, 2009 EvolutionThe financial services group has appointed Christopher Chambers as a non-executive director, effective immediately.Chambers, 48, was previously chief executive of Man Investments and an executive director of Man Group until 2005, co-head of European equity capital markets at Credit Suisse First Boston and director of equity capital markets and corporate broking at BZW. LaSalle The [...]