MPs vote to strip Sir Philip Green of his knighthood October 20, 2016 MPs have voted to strip Sir Philip Green of his knighthood. MPs have been debating the collapse of BHS in the House of Commons. The amendment to take Green's knighthood was supported by over 110 MPs. The vote is not binding, and the ultimate decision over his knighthood will be taken by the honours forfeiture committee. Read more: [...]
BHS administrators submit investigatory report on former BHS directors to Insolvency Service October 19, 2016 Pressure is mounting on Sir Philip Green ahead of a parliamentary debate on BHS' collapse as City A.M. has learned the BHS administrators have submitted an investigatory report on the retailer's former directors to the Insolvency Service. The report from Duff & Phelps on the conduct of former directors will remain confidential unless the Insolvency Service publishes its investigation. Ministers [...]
Theresa May-backed Women’s Business Council says more needed to unlock contribution of female workers to the economy October 17, 2016 A high-profile government advisory group has hailed progress on roles for women in business, but says there is still more to do. Theresa May established the Women Business Council while home secretary, and four years after its creation WBC chair Cilla Snowball has warned that despite significant victories, more progress must be made. Household names [...]
Young women are much more likely to be insolvent than young men October 17, 2016 Higher expenses are contributing to a far higher insolvency rate among young women than young men. According to accountancy firm Moore Stephens, women accounted for 65 per cent of personal insolvencies among the under-25s in the last year and 53 per cent of those among 25-34 year-olds. Read more: What does a gender pay gap [...]
EY reaches settlement over long-running $7.3bn Nortel Networks bankruptcy saga October 13, 2016 A settlement has been reached in the long-running global insolvency of Canadian telecoms giant Nortel Networks' European-based companies. Three groups of creditors, including 33,000 UK pensioners, Canadian pensioners and US bondholders, had been unable to agree who gets what from the $7.3bn (£6bn) to be distributed since the company’s collapse seven years ago. The battle has been over [...]
National living wage pushes tens of thousands of companies into financial distress October 11, 2016 Nearly 100,000 businesses have been pushed into financial distress due to the introduction of the national living wage six months ago. According to data from insolvency firm Begbies Traynor, 97,342 firms impacted by the introduction of the national living wage are now struggling financially, an increase of 23 per cent since the legislation came into [...]
Arcadia paid BHS head office staff to “stem tide of resignations” October 11, 2016 Arcadia paid £2m to staff in BHS' head office to keep them from leaving as the business collapsed into administration. In a statement, ex-BHS Darren Topp said nearly 100 people resigned in four weeks from the end of March 2016, and the money from Arcadia was used to "stem the tide of resignations". Read more: Insolvency Service [...]
The Pensions Regulator is seeking more power to stop another BHS-style pensions crisis October 11, 2016 The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is seeking more powers to prevent another pensions crisis on the scale of BHS'. In evidence given to the Work and Pensions select committee, TPR has called for a mandatory clearance process for some corporate transactions, such as a company being sold when its pension scheme is underfunded, as was the [...]
Expert for select committee slams Bernard Matthews’ sale and takes aim at insolvency laws October 10, 2016 Evidence submitted to an influential committee of MPs has highlighted concerns over the fate of the Bernard Matthews' pension scheme which has been a casualty the turkey company's pre-pack administration. According evidence submitted by Professor Prem Sikka, Bernard Matthew's administrator Deloitte "carefully crafted" a strategy to "dump" the pension scheme. He has reported his findings to the Work [...]
Oil price crash and Brexit woes fuel number of firms de-listing from AIM October 10, 2016 The number of firms de-listing from the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) has jumped by a fifth in the last year as financial stress took hold. Accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young found that 107 companies de-listed in the last year, up from 89 on the 12 months before. While insolvency and financial stress proved the most frequent [...]