Portsmouth given stay of execution February 10, 2010 PORTSMOUTH have been given seven days to provide documents proving they can pay their creditors. The club now have until 4pm on 17 February to file a “statement of financial affairs” or face going out of business. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) took Portsmouth to court over an unpaid tax bill of £7.4m. They [...]
Malaysian IT firm joins queue to list on Aim this year February 9, 2010 Malaysian IT systems integrator Teliti International is planning an Aim flotation that could give it a market capitalisation of up to £40m. The company provides services to banks, government agencies and oil and gas companies. It plans to raise £12m through the IPO (initial public offering) to build a new data centre in Malaysia, where [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS February 9, 2010 ING Real Estate The investment management company has appointed Mike Evans, the chairman of stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown, as a new non-executive director. Evans has held an advisory role with ING for over three years. He also recently completed a two-year stint as director of life assurance at law firm Pinsent Masons and originally spent almost [...]
Doors close yet again at February 8, 2010 Beleaguered clothing retailer Ethel Austin has gone back into administration just two years after it found an eleventh-hour saviour. The 300-store firm looks set to finally close its doors after 76 years, with 3,700 jobs at risk. Its sister company, homeware chain Au Naturale, has also gone into administration. Ethel Austin was saved in 2008 [...]
MCR February 8, 2010 Geoff Bouchier has been appointed administrator for Ethel Austin. He is a partner with MCR. He has led many of MCR’s major insolvency assignments, including a number of its high profile appointments within the financial services, travel and retail sectors. In recent months he has worked as joint administrator for high street retailer Borders and [...]
Exchange traded bonds arrive in retail market February 3, 2010 FOR investors wanting to diversify their investments, bonds have always been an attractive option. However, until now retail investors who manage their own portfolio would have found it difficult to try and buy UK bonds. Earlier this week, though, the London Stock Exchange launched an electronic retail bond-trading platform, and for the first time investors [...]
More than 17,000 top City jobs lost since recession took hold January 31, 2010 MORE than 17,000 of the City’s top financiers lost their jobs in the past two years, a new report shows. The figures, based on Financial Services Authority data, show that redundancies, insolvencies and early retirement wiped out around 10 per cent of the highest-ranking employees in Britain’s financial-services industry. The figures refer only to individuals [...]
All can fail: my new manifesto for the banks January 25, 2010 REGULAR readers of this column will know that I am no fan of many of the proposals being cooked up to reform the banks. I have opposed Barack Obama’s plan to ban retail banks from engaging in proprietary trading; George Osborne’s support of Glass-Steagall, which would break up commercial and investment banks; and Alistair Darling’s [...]
Potential buyers line up for retail chain Adams January 25, 2010 THE troubled Adams childrenswear retail chain has received approaches from a number of potential buyers, according to administrators trying to save the company as a going concern. Insolvency firm MCR yesterday confirmed the assets of Adams’ parent company, JS Childrenswear, were up for sale. “We are already seeing significant interest in the business and assets [...]
Staycations hammer hotels January 25, 2010 Insolvency levels among hotels hit a high for the recession during the fourth quarter of 2009, according to the latest data from business advisers PricewaterhouseCoopers. Over the winter, the rate at which hospitality and leisure firms became insolvent rose 12 per cent. The increase was driven by a 68 per cent surge in hotel insolvencies [...]