Pension fund protector sees stellar returns October 22, 2012 THE PENSION Protection Fund (PPF) will today announce that it made a surplus of more than £1bn in the last financial year, providing greater security for its 128,000 members. The statutory body looks after the defined benefit pension schemes of companies that have been declared insolvent. The fund’s annual report shows total assets under management [...]
Retailers close 20 shops a day as value chains take their place October 17, 2012 BRITISH retailers closed more stores than they opened in the first half of the year, with around 20 shops a day pulling down their shutters, a study has revealed. The report, by PwC and the Local Data Company, examined 500 town centres in the UK and found toy shops, clothes and furniture retailers, jewellers, card [...]
City Moves | Who’s switching jobs October 15, 2012 Alvarez & Marsal Taxand The tax advisory firm has appointed Stephen Labrum as a managing director and global head of transfer pricing. He joins after 13 years at Ernst & Young, where was a transfer pricing partner. Allianz Global Investors The asset management firm has appointed Andy Wiggins to the newly-created role of head of [...]
Rangers shoot for £20m junior market offering October 11, 2012 TROUBLED Scottish football club Rangers yesterday announced plans to raise up to £20m through a listing on London’s Alternative Investment Market as the team’s new owners seek to rebuild the business. Rangers has endured a disastrous year, with the club – who have won the league a record 54 times – declared insolvent and forced to restart life [...]
League won’t ban Wonga deal October 9, 2012 PREMIER League chiefs have ruled out intervening in the row over Wonga.com’s sponsorship of Newcastle United, despite the storm that greeted yesterday’s £24m four-year deal between the club and the controversial payday lender. Industry experts accused the company of cynically targeting an area with the highest personal insolvency rates in the country, while the Football [...]
Hotels and restaurants fight off insolvency but figures still rise October 8, 2012 THE NUMBER of hospitality and leisure businesses collapsing into insolvency fell 15 per cent in the third quarter compared with the same period last year, but it remains one of the worst hit sectors so far this year, according to figures released yesterday by PwC. Overall, there were 1,464 insolvencies in the hotel and leisure [...]
Begbies says fewer firms failing October 1, 2012 A drop in companies going bust has left business recovery group Begbies Traynor facing a quiet summer, the firm said in a trading update yesterday. Begbies said insolvencies fell 12 per cent in the second quarter of the year, with 5,065 companies going under. The firm has spent £1m on its own restructuring since May, [...]
Growth hopes boosted by raft of upbeat data September 26, 2012 THE PROSPECTS for growth over the third quarter were boosted yesterday, as insolvencies declined, while retail sales edged up. High street sales volumes grew in September, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said in its distributive trades survey yesterday. Thirty-three per cent of respondents said their sales volumes had grown, compared to 27 per cent [...]
JJB Sports calls time as it hires administrators September 25, 2012 AILING retailer JJB Sports yesterday confirmed it will appoint administrators after failing to receive an offer for the entire company, putting up to 4,000 jobs at risk. Shares in the group – which were worth a total of as much as £1bn a decade ago – were suspended yesterday and remaining investors, including US tycoon [...]
Who’s switching jobs September 20, 2012 Cording Group John Partridge has been appointed executive chairman of the real estate investment firm. He is the founder and former executive chairman of Cordea Savills. Partridge also previously served as chief executive of the property fund management businesses at Morgan Grenfell and Henderson. Altium The investment bank has appointed Aksana Pekun as managing director [...]