CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS August 29, 2011 PKF Trevor Birch, the man who brokered Roman Abramovich’s £120m takeover of Chelsea Football Club, has joined the business adviser PKF as head of the London Corporate Recovery and Insolvency team and a member of the Football Industry Group. Birch is the former chief executive of Chelsea, Leeds United, Everton, Derby County and Sheffield United [...]
Crisis fails to dampen deal prices August 22, 2011 PENSION transfer prices have held up despite the market volatility linked to the sovereign debt crisis, experts said yesterday. America’s credit rating downgrade and the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis have had little impact on corporate bond yields, which drive the price costs of pension insurance buyouts and buy-ins – known as bulk annuities. Pensions consultant [...]
Healthcare Locums to raise £60m after £57m loss August 19, 2011 Healthcare Locums, the troubled medical staff provider, outlined plans to raise £60m in emergency funding to pay down its debt as it posted a £56.5m loss for the year to the end of December. The 2010 accounts have been delayed until now by an investigation into Healthcare Locums’ accounts after the board in January said [...]
Businesses cheer tax relief scheme August 11, 2011 BUSINESS groups yesterday welcomed the government’s plans to support retailers affected by the UK riots, after a programme of tax relief and cash grants was announced by Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday. As part of the rescue package, riot-hit businesses will be given relief from business rates and allowed to delay tax payments. They will [...]
Eurozone may cripple global revival August 4, 2011 FOR weeks now, a global market rout had looked inevitable – so the chaos should hardly have come as a surprise when it finally began in earnest in the last couple of days. The fact that the US stepped back from the brink earlier this week provided some short-lived respite; but nobody believed America would [...]
Crisis shows risk can’t be abolished July 27, 2011 IT is going to be a hot summer – and I’m not even talking about the weather. After a brief and irrational lull after last week’s pseudo-deal in the Eurozone, the global sovereign debt crisis is accelerating again, with the row over extending America’s debt ceiling becoming ever more farcical. Gold hit close to $1,630, [...]
Economists lose faith in Greek rescue July 25, 2011 INVESTORS turned against Greece’s latest bailout package yesterday, with Moody’s one of many observers to conclude that despite a new €109bn (£96bn) public bailout and €50bn write-off in private debts, Athens is still insolvent. Greece’s debt is forecast to rise next year, despite the latest rescue, which brings the sovereign’s total official rescue funds to an [...]
Yell shouted down by its shareholders July 20, 2011 YELL Group tanked 13.5 per cent yesterday after seeing its profits and revenues for the first quarter slide. Weakness in its print division continues to hurt the Yellow Pages directories publisher, with revenue falling 11 per cent to £383.3m, and Ebitda down £20.2m to £109m. Print and other directory revenue fell 19 per cent, while [...]
US regulators sue RBS over mortgage securities July 19, 2011 Royal Bank of Scotland is facing a second lawsuit from US credit union regulators accusing it of misrepresenting mortgage backed securities that it sold. The latest lawsuit filed by the National Credit Union Administration against RBS Securities Inc seeks over $629m (£391m) in damages, NCUA said in a statement on Monday. The allegations stem from [...]
Mid-sized and large firms see a drop in insolvencies in last year July 18, 2011 MID-SIZED and large businesses have seen their fortunes turn around in the last year, with the number of insolvencies dropping notably. The failure rate of firms that employ 100 to 500 people more than halved last month, compared to a year earlier. The number of insolvencies for firms between 51 and 100 employees was also [...]