Category Archives: Corporate Governance

UK recruiter emerges from insolvency for third time, avoiding millions owed in tax

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Hampshire business seems to have benefited from ‘phoenixism’, which costs the taxpayer about £800m a year

A UK recruitment business has been acquired out of administration for a third time in four years as part of a succession of deals that left some of the former management team in place and millions of pounds owed to the public purse.

The chain of insolvencies appears to contain more examples of phoenixism – a process when companies are liquidated and directors are able to rise from the ashes with a new entity, free of debts.

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UK accused of caving-in to British Virgin Islands over access to companies register

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Parliamentary group urges government to clamp down on overseas territories before flagship anti-corruption summit

The UK government has been accused of caving-in to pressure from the British Virgin Islands by allowing it to limit access to a register of company share ownership to only those deemed to have a legitimate interest.

The restriction, to be discussed at talks starting on Tuesday between Foreign Office ministers and leaders of the British overseas territories (BOTs) in London, is in defiance of legislation passed by the UK government as long ago as 2008 that would make the register available to all.

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Last Christmas, you gave us first class: Royal Mail turns Scrooge with gift to staff of second-class stamps

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Switch comes amid first festive season since Daniel Křetínský’s takeover of parent company IDS

Royal Mail says that it has “delivered Christmas” for more than 500 years, but this year many workers have been left feeling less than festive after the company downgraded a small gift to workers to second class.

The postal service, which traces its history back to the appointment of a “master of the posts” by Henry VIII in 1516, has given workers a collection of 50 Christmas stamps to recognise their work over the busiest time of year. In previous years, including in 2024, workers have received a book of 50 or 100 first-class stamps, but that has quietly been switched to second class this year.

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Australia could be a ‘dumping ground’ for goods made for us with forced labour, anti-slavery tsar warns

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Exclusive: Chris Evans says ‘blind spots’ in modern slavery laws means few prosecutions occur and some companies are ‘taking the mickey’ in their approach to reporting

Australia’s modern slavery laws are among the weakest in the developed world and the country risks becoming a “dumping ground” for goods made with forced labour, Australia’s first anti-slavery commissioner has said.

In a wide-ranging interview with Guardian Australia, the commissioner, Chris Evans – a former Labor senator and minister – said there were “blind spots” in Australia’s efforts that risked the country becoming a global laggard.

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Companies face prosecution risk as new fraud law comes into force

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CPS hails ‘major step forward’ in crime prevention with potential for companies to receive unlimited fines

Companies could be prosecuted and face unlimited fines if they fail to prevent fraud that their firm profits from under a corporate offence coming into force on Monday.

Under the new “failure to prevent fraud” law, large companies can be held criminally liable where an “employee, agent, subsidiary or other ‘associated person’” commits a fraud intending to benefit the organisation.

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Loan ‘irregularities’ led to collapse of Prax Lindsey oil refinery

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Administrator was appointed after parent company State Oil was given new information about £783m loan

The Prax Lindsey oil refinery collapsed after “material irregularities” were discovered in a complex £783m loan facility that funded the wider group, it has emerged.

The refinery on the Humber estuary in northern England – one of just five left in the UK, – was suddenly plunged into administration in late June, prompting calls from furious government ministers for an investigation into Winston Soosaipillai, Prax Group’s oil tycoon owner.

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Anger as Nationwide refuses members a binding vote on boss’s 43% pay hike

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Lender says Debbie Crosbie’s package ‘should compete with banks’ but critics say building societies are ‘supposed to be the good guys’

Nationwide is under fire for refusing to give members a binding vote on a controversial 43% pay rise for its chief executive, Debbie Crosbie, which could total up to £7m.

Campaigners say it leaves the mutual’s members with fewer rights than shareholders of listed UK banks and exposes a worrying “loophole” in building society rules.

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Taxpayers set for £10bn loss on NatWest as disgraced ex-boss takes £600k-a-year pension

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Government expected to sell last shares in banking group this week, drawing a line under 2008 financial crisis bailout

Fred “the Shred” Goodwin, the disgraced ex-boss of Royal Bank of Scotland, is estimated to be receiving an annual pension worth nearly £600,000, as the government prepares to declare a £10bn loss after selling its final stake in the bank as early as this week.

The banking group, now known as NatWest, is expected to return to full private ownership within days, drawing a line under a £45bn state bailout that saved the bank from the brink of collapse at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.

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Thames Water chair could face questions after comments to MPs on bonuses

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Exclusive: Sir Adrian Montague told select committee paying bonuses out of emergency £3bn loan was insisted upon by creditors

The chair of Thames Water could face more questions over his statement to parliament that large bonuses to be paid to senior bosses out of an emergency £3bn loan were insisted upon by creditors.

Sir Adrian Montague told the environment, food and rural affairs (Efra) select committee last week that the lenders had insisted that “very substantial” bonuses of up to 50% of salary should be paid to company executives from the controversial loan in order to retain key staff.

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Advertising giant WPP cuts diversity references from annual report

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Owner of Ogilvy and Grey agencies follows other multinationals in dropping or downplaying DEI policies since Trump’s election

The British advertising giant WPP has become the latest company to cut the phrase “diversity, equity and inclusion” from its annual report as the policies come under attack from the Trump administration.

The agency, which counts the US as by far its largest market, boasts the storied “Madison Avenue” agencies J Walter Thompson, Ogilvy and Grey among its top brands.

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Vivienne Westwood fashion house faces questions over homophobic bullying claims against CEO

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Exclusive: Independent investigation in 2023 upheld five allegations against Carlo D’Amario, the Guardian understands

From her 1975 “gay cowboys” T-shirt to pioneering catwalk collections that challenged gender norms, the late Vivienne Westwood has long been heralded as an LGBT+ icon.

But the fashion house she built over five decades faces serious questions about whether the late designer’s values have endured, after allegations about homophobic bullying by its chief executive, Carlo D’Amario, were upheld by an independent investigation, the Guardian understands.

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Rare metal assets, 4,000 workers, a Canary Wharf HQ… but does this billion-pound firm really exist?

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A bizarre mining business’s fake audit reveals the potential for fraudsters at Companies House

At first glance, there is nothing remarkable about Gofer Mining plc. It appears to be just another multibillion-pound corporate giant, with London headquarters in Canary Wharf and interests stretching from Tibet to Ukraine.

Its lengthy financial accounts are full of prosaic details about ­mineral weights, rare metal assets and ­exploration plans.

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Thames Water seeks high court approval for £3bn debt lifeline

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Hearing to rule on whether to grant emergency funds to water utility, which says it may run out of cash by March

Thames Water will seek court approval for up to £3bn in emergency funding, which could stave off temporary nationalisation, at a court hearing in London.

A high court judge will hear from Britain’s biggest water supplier and groups of rival creditors on Monday before deciding whether to approve the rescue. Without the debt lifeline, Thames Water has said it could run out of cash by March.

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It’s time to get serious about stamp duty on shares, a terrible advert for London

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The number of listed companies fleeing can’t be ignored – cutting or abolishing the tax could revive the capital market

Last year was another depressing one for departures from the London stock market. Back in January, it was Flutter heading for the exit. The owner of Paddy Power, Betfair and Sky Bet got itself a secondary listing in the US and said it would quickly convert it into the primary one, which it did in May.

When December arrived, we were still on the same theme. Ashtead Group, the £27bn construction rental company that has been listed in London since 1986, announced plans to shift its primary listing to New York. Other escapers include Just Eat Takeaway, which is off to Amsterdam.

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Japan’s Nomura bank boss takes 30% voluntary pay cut after worker tries to kill customer

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Wealth management employee charged with robbery, attempted murder and arson after home visit to elderly clients

The boss of the Japanese bank Nomura has apologised and taken a voluntary pay cut after a former employee was charged with robbery and attempted murder of a customer.

Kentaro Okuda, who has led Nomura since 2020, will take a 30% pay cut over the next three months, with several other senior managers at the bank taking similar reductions, the bank said.

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Regulator stops customers from being billed for ‘undeserved’ bonuses

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Ofwat uses new powers to ensure investors pay at Thames, Yorkshire, and Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water

Investors at Thames Water, Yorkshire Water, and Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water will be forced to pick up the tab for executive bonuses after the regulator determined that the sector had awarded “undeserved” extra payments, worth £6.8m.

Ofwat said on Thursday it had used new powers to ensure that shareholders and bondholders at the three companies paid for bonuses because they had not “adequately reflected overall company performance issues”.

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The great divide: are office workers more productive than those at home?

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Amazon has told staff they must return five days a week – but experts don’t all agree that flexible working cuts output

Four years ago when the world of work was upended by the Covid pandemic, confident predictions were made that a permanent shift in remote working would follow the removal of lockdown restrictions.

Much has clearly changed since. Some of the earliest preachers of the brave new teleworking world – including the US tech companies Google and Microsoft – are among the most vocal to repent.

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Tory donor Lycamobile handed winding-up order from HMRC amid tax dispute

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Pay-as-you-go simcard seller often filed late returns, had accounts queried by auditors and was embroiled in eight-year VAT battle

Lycamobile, a telecoms company that has given more than £2m to the Conservative party, has been issued with a winding-up petition by HM Revenue and Customs, amid a long-running VAT dispute.

The company, founded by businessman Allirajah Subaskaran in 2006, sells pay-as-you-go sim cards that are popular with low-paid workers wanting to make cheap phone calls to family overseas, as well as in the UK.

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Investors push Glencore to scrap spin-off of heavily polluting coal division

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More than 95% of investors urged commodities firm to keep highly profitable fossil fuel arm to help maximise shareholder cash

Glencore has scrapped plans to spin off its coal business after shareholders urged the commodities company to hold on to the highly profitable but heavily polluting division.

The FTSE 100 company said that an overwhelming majority of its shareholders favoured retaining the coal business over its plan to list the division as a separate company on the New York stock exchange.

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Post Office Horizon inquiry told of ‘incomplete curiosity’ and ‘toxic culture’

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Former chair of Whitehall agencies overseeing state-owned businesses gives view on what went wrong

The former chair of a Whitehall agency responsible for taxpayers’ interest in the Post Office has blamed the Horizon IT scandal on a mixture of “incomplete curiosity” and “a toxic culture” at the state-owned company.

Robert Swannell, a veteran City businessman and former Marks & Spencer chair, was speaking on Tuesday before the judge-led public inquiry investigating why post office operators were wrongly prosecuted for theft and false accounting over financial discrepancies linked to bugs within the Horizon IT system.

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