Large numbers of Britain’s care homes expect to go bust in the next three years November 14, 2016 Banks who have lent to care homes could fail to recoup their debts as large numbers are expected to go bust over the next three years. The double-whammy of local government budget cuts and the introduction of the national living wage has put the care home sector under significant pressure in recent years. Read more: Number of [...]
John Lewis Partnership considers further reforms to staff benefits as squeeze on retailers tightens November 4, 2016 High street stalwart the John Lewis Partnership is considering further curbs on staff benefits as it becomes the latest retailer to fight back against soaring costs for the sector. Documents seen by City A.M. suggest the escalating national living wage could cost the John Lewis Partnership an additional £171m in 2020. Between 2015, when the [...]
Could it be? BHS pensions deal to be wrapped up by Christmas November 4, 2016 There could finally be light at the end of the tunnel. Sir Philip Green and pension regulators could reach a deal over the BHS scheme within weeks, according to the BBC. But, don't get too excited just yet: Green could still walk away, which would prompt the beginning of a prolonged legal battle. Newsnight reported [...]
The oil boss who wants to bore you October 31, 2016 Gulf Keystone’s finance chief tells Francesca Washtell of his plan to quietly repair the oil firm. From his relaxed demeanour, it’s hard at first to believe Sami Zouari, Gulf Keystone Petroleum’s chief financial officer, when he says he found it an “exhausting” process bringing the company back from the brink. Earlier this month, the Kurdistanfocused [...]
Brexit is a chance to reboot Britain’s stagnant productivity performance – as long as we also return monetary policy to normal October 31, 2016 Productivity is the key driver of economic prosperity. From 1945 to 1980 Britain performed poorly on productivity growth, particularly in the 1970s when the UK joined the European Community. The 1980s saw a sharp improvement in UK productivity growth, sustained for much of the 1990s and early 2000s. Alas, the UK’s productivity performance has since [...]
Brexit hasn’t impacted the number of companies going pop too much. Yet… October 28, 2016 The number of companies going bust is edging up as experts predict that it is only a matter of time before numbers may rise more rapidly as a result of the Brexit vote. The latest data, released by the government's insolvency service, reveals that there were 3,633 corporate insolvencies in the three months since Britain's decision to leave [...]
Shares in Debenhams leapt this morning on solid annual results. But analysts are still waiting to see what the new chief exec will do October 27, 2016 Department store Debenhams' share price headed north by nearly four per cent this morning after revealing a decline in full year profits that still beat analyst expectations. The figures Gross transactional values, basically the company's sales before taking into account discounting, were up by 1.3 per cent to £2.9bn. However revenues – what it says on the [...]
Boom time in the City as Brexit gives a boost to professional advisers October 24, 2016 The UK's vote for Brexit has delivered a big boost for City advisers as firms scramble to find out how they should respond to a period of unprecedented uncertainty. Insolvency firm Begbies Traynor found the number of professional services firms in "significant financial distress" had dropped by 10 per cent since the EU referendum, as new [...]
BHS administrators track millions taken out of retailer by Dominic Chappell October 23, 2016 One of the administrators of BHS wants to take control of Retail Acquisitions (RAL), the company Dominic Chappell used to buy the retailer for £1. Duff & Phelps has applied to the High Court to take over RAL so that they can investigate the money extracted from BHS by Chappell. In particular, the administrators are [...]