Begbies enters joint venture October 8, 2009 BEGBIES Traynor yesterday announced a joint venture with a unit of US-based firm Mesirow Financial, to become one of the world’s largest insolvency houses. Begbies Traynor Group (BTG) said that the new practice, BTG Mesirow Financial Consulting, would give it access to new markets and allow it to work on complex cross-border cases. “We have [...]
Retailers facing a tough Xmas October 4, 2009 MANY struggling British retailers will face a bleaker Christmas than they did last year, when 15 major chains failed, according to insolvency specialist Begbies Traynor. Christmas is a crucial trading period for retailers but soaring unemployment and low consumer confidence is expected to result in more firms facing financial difficulty. “Christmas 2009 could see just [...]
Industry faces battle to find new professionals September 28, 2009 THERE are too few turnaround specialists in the world to cope with a surge in the numbers of companies that need restructuring after the credit crisis, an insolvency expert told the Reuters Restructuring Summit. “There are 408 practitioners in 11 of the United States’ trading partners, five of them have seven between them,” said Nick [...]
Linklaters’ Mr Tough Guy on why the next two months are key for the City September 28, 2009 THE legal profession might be going through one of its biggest slumps in a decade – but you would not know that looking at Linklaters’ senior partner David Cheyne. A small, dapper man, he is relaxed and all smiles as he sits in a tastefully furnished ground floor meeting room at the firm’s Silk Street [...]
JJB Sports plunges to a huge 43m loss September 24, 2009 EMBATTLED sportswear retailer JJB Sports yesterday reported widening losses for the six months to July, dragging the group £42.9m into the red. JJB Sports said that the losses had grown from £14.8m the year before, as revenue dived by 42.5 per cent to £178.6m. The group also said like-for-like sales were down by 27.4 per [...]
Insolvency ends after 35 years September 23, 2009 One of Britain’s longest-running insolvency cases, dating back to 1974, has ended according to liquidators UHY Hacker Young, appointed to wind down travel agency Apal after the failure of its chief lender Israel-British bank. Each creditor received 74p for every £1 lost.
JD Sports on the up while JJB struggles September 20, 2009 RIVAL sportswear retailers JD Sports and JJB Sports are due to report half-year figures this week amid mounting controversy in the sportswear sector.JD Sports has been relatively resilient throughout the downturn, reporting sales lifts and profiting from the ailing fortunes of its rivals. Selling mainly sportswear fashion, rather than sports equipment, it has been cushioned [...]
Investors grab Arcandor stake in Thomas Cook September 10, 2009 CREDITOR banks of insolvent German retailer Arcandor yesterday completed the placing of a 43.9 per cent stake in travel firm Thomas Cook in one of the biggest share placings in Britain in recent years. The placing removes uncertainty about future ownership of the stake and lifted the company’s share price. It was a further sign [...]
Energy and bank stocks push FTSE 100 back below 5,000 September 10, 2009 THE FTSE 100 drifted lower yesterday, unable to stay above the 5,000 level as energy and bank stocks weighed heavily. It closed down by 16.62 points, or 0.3 per cent to 4,987.68, having closed above 5,000 for the first time since late September 2008 on Wednesday. “We’re taking a bit of a pause from what [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 9, 2009 Piper JaffrayJens Rosebrock, pictured, joins the bank from Dresdner Kleinwort as head of clean technology investment banking. Peter Schuemers also joins as an analyst from Dresdner. Paul Lewington and Adrien Bommelaer join the technology team from Close Brothers and Credit Suisse. And in the European equity sales team, Bede Bruce-Lockhart joins as a managing director [...]