Gunners reach the summit January 20, 2010 ARSENAL (4) vs. BOLTON WANDERERS (2) ARSENE WENGER’S young Arsenal side showed the character of champions as they clawed their way back from two goals down to hit the Premier League summit. Gary Cahill and a Matthew Taylor penalty fired the visitors into a shock 2-0 lead inside the opening 28 minutes to leave the [...]
Portsmouth suffer High Court defeat January 19, 2010 PORTSMOUTH’S battle to avoid administration suffered another blow yesterday when they lost their High Court bid to have a winding-up order struck out. Pompey failed to convince Mr Justice Newey that Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs had overcalculated the VAT portion of their mammoth tax bill by £7.5m. The Premier League’s bottom club hinted last [...]
Insolvencies to peak in 2010 as state props are withdrawn January 18, 2010 THE rate of corporate failures will accelerate in the second half of 2010 as government stimulus measures are unwound, insolvency specialist Begbies Traynor warned yesterday. The firm said 140,000 British companies suffered significant financial problems in the fourth quarter despite measures such as quantitative easing and the 2.5 per cent VAT cut. Begbies Traynor executive [...]
Businesses are not out of the woods just yet January 13, 2010 DAVID HUDSON LONDON HEAD OF CORPORATE INSOLVENCY, BAKER TILLY WHILE businesses fail during recessions, many also fail coming out, having spent the cash reserves during the hard times that they so crucially need when they have to grow again to serve a more confident customer base, against revitalised competition. The underlying message of Baker Tilly’s [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 5, 2010 WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING FINANCIAL TIMES ALWALEED’S CITI SHARES TO BOLSTER KINGDOM Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al-Saud, the Saudi investor, revealed on Tuesday that he plans to shore up the balance sheet of his investment vehicle by “donating” SR2.24bn (€416m) of shares in Citigroup into it. Prince Alwaleed said the initiative would [...]
CITY FIRMS SET TO ESCAPE SUPER TAX December 21, 2009 INDEPENDENT insurers, asset managers and stockbrokers in the City can breathe a sigh of relief today after the government ended almost a fortnight of tense speculation by confirming they will not be subject to its super-tax on bank bonuses. Under the new rules, which will still see banks charged at a rate of 50 per [...]
Q&A: UPDATED BANK BONUS TAX RULES December 21, 2009 Q.WHAT CHANGES HAVE BEEN MADE TO THE ORIGINAL BANK BONUS TAX RULES? A.The main clarification put out by HM Revenue & Customs surrounds independent financial services firms such as asset managers, insurers and stockbrokers, which had all expressed concern about being potentially caught by the bonus levy. The government has now confirmed that such firms [...]
Rank demands £26m in overdue VAT payments from the tax authorities December 15, 2009 GAMING and bingo group Rank demanded £25.9m in overdue VAT payments from Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) yesterday after a tribunal ruled again in its favour. The tribunal concluded that the group had been overcharged over their gaming machines between 2003 and 2005. Rank has now called for HMRC to repay the money within [...]
Tax rebate could ease UK out of recession December 6, 2009 A short-term tax rebate would help the UK out of recession, a report out today from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) think-tank will say. Ahead of Wednesday’s pre-Budget report, NIESR claimed a rebate of around one per cent of GDP would boost economic growth by 0.2 per cent next year. It [...]
Hexagon readjusts its forecasts downwards December 2, 2009 HEXAGON Human Capital reported yesterday that it has been over-optimistic in its cash flow forecasts and that the group now expects its full-year earnings to be below market expectations. Hexagon, which saw a stabilisation in its trading in recent months, announced that it was in default on previously arranged payments with the tax authorities as [...]