Big four financial services firm KPMG has been fined £14.4 million over its reports to regulators on its audit of collapsed construction contractor and outsourcing firm Carillion. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has also kicked out four of the firm’s former staff from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales for between seven and ten years. Carillion, which was...
There have been several well-documented situations where a high-profile individual’s tax planning has come under scrutiny, and the results have been unfavourable. A few readers have asked about whether their income and Inheritance Tax planning trusts are the right or wrong side of the Revenue. Much stems from the publicity regarding high-profile individuals’ mistakes. Many of these have agents...
Sustainable clothing retailer Celtic & Co has appointed the finance chief of fellow Cornish fashion brand Seasalt. Martin Hayball has joined the company as group head of finance. He was previously head of financial planning and analysis at Falmouth-based Seasalt, which he joined in September 2021. Before that, he held senior financial positions with utilities firms Pennon Group and South West...
Huddersfield’s Fintel has reported underlying earnings of £8.7m in the first half of 2022 and says it is well placed to make acquisitions. The firm said core revenue had increased 9% to £27.1m in the six months to the end of June, up from £24.9m in the same period last year. Investors were told there had been continued progress in the conversion of distribution as a service (DaaS) revenue during...
Financial services firm Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) has appointed a new financial advice director. Richard Caldicott will join the listed firm from M&G Wealth in October, and will head up HL’s advice arm. According to the Bristol-based investment company, Mr Caldicott has “extensive experience” in the advice sector, in particular creating and driving strategies which focus on the use of...
Big Four accounting firm PwC has been fined £1.75m by the accounting watchdog over its audit work for BT carried out in the wake of fraud in the telecoms giant’s Italian operations in 2016. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said it also fined audit partner Richard Hughes £42,000 over the BT work. Both PwC and Mr Hughes admitted breaches of the rules in relation to their audits of the...
North East challenger bank Virgin Money has launched its first share buyback programme, with the lender set to repurchase up to £75m worth of shares In a stock market announcement the group, which has its head office in Newcastle, said it would buy back shares with an initial repurchase of ordinary shares at 10p each. The buyback is expected to start on June 30 and will end no later than December...
Bosses at ProCook have said the brand is in a strong financial position to weather a contracting kitchenware market, with consumer confidence hitting lows “not seen for many years”. In a set of preliminary results for the 2022 financial year, the Gloucestershire firm, which listed on the London Stock Exchange last year, reported 29.5% year-on-year revenue growth to £69.2m – up from £53.4m in 2021...
A loans recovery scheme from the British Business Bank has provided £135m of lending to firms Wales since being launched in April last year. The Recovery Loan Scheme was set up by the UK Government’s economic development bank, which has a UK-wide remit to provide loans and equity firms, to help UK businesses recover and grow following the pandemic. Of the £135.4m of total funding offered by...
Banking and payments platform Pismo has appointed a new engineering director in Bristol. Ross Larter will be responsible for structuring the technical team, expanding the company’s solutions, and supporting processes related to Pismo’s globalisation strategy, according to the São Paulo-headquartered firm. Before joining Pismo, Mr Larter spent more than six years as engineering director of online...