Outsourcer Interserve begins trading as a private company after shares suspended March 18, 2019 Government supplier Interserve has today embarked on a new chapter as a private company, after its shares were removed from the London Stock Exchange. The ex-FTSE 250 mainstay went into administration on Friday after shareholders rejected a plan to alleviate most of its £630m debt pile, which would have seen their collective stake in the [...]
Outsourcer Interserve falls into administration after shareholders reject rescue deal March 15, 2019 Interserve has fallen into administration after shareholders roundly rejected a rescue deal designed to relieve it of a more than £630m debt pile. The public outsourcer has announced it expects to fall into the hands of administrators after investors voted to reject its proposed deal by 59 per cent to 41 per cent at a general meeting this morning. Earlier [...]
Mark Kleinman: Interserve is left to clean up its own mess March 15, 2019 What’s this? A public voting process punctuated by angry disputes about the terms and timing of a deal; feverish talk of ousting the top team orchestrating the agreement; and potentially dire consequences if the vote is blocked. It sounds a lot like events in Westminster, but today might instead mark the denouement of another of [...]
Spring Statement: Chancellor to consult on new ways of funding infrastructure projects March 13, 2019 The government is to launch a consultation on how the government pays for infrastructure projects such as Crossrail and HS2 in future, the chancellor said today. In a Spring Statement overshadowed by an impending vote by MPs on whether to accept a no-deal Brexit, Philip Hammond said he would consult business on how to fund [...]
Balfour Beatty: UK’s largest construction firm returns margins to ‘industry standard’ March 13, 2019 Balfour Beatty’s turnaround plan has returned the once troubled construction firm to “industry standard” margins, according to chief executive Leo Quinn. The biggest constructor in the UK reported an increase in profits and an order book growing more than a tenth year-on-year in its 2018 results, prompting shares to rise 1.2 per cent in morning trading. [...]
Coltrane Asset Management: What do we know about the hedge fund ruffling Interserve’s feathers? March 12, 2019 Outsourcing giant Interserve has taken a hammering in recent weeks from a very rowdy shareholder: Coltrane Asset Management. The New York hedge fund has done its utmost to derail a rescue deal designed to save the outsourcer from administration, even threatening to sue Interserve’s board last month. Coltrane may have caused a ruckus, but what [...]
Interserve battles to avoid administration as shareholder vote looms on Friday March 10, 2019 Interserve is facing a battle for survival with less than five days left to convince shareholders to save the business from administration, with the added threat of legal action hanging above its directors. The board, including boss Debbie White, face an uphill battle trying to balance the interests of biggest shareholder Coltrane Asset Management on one [...]
A market cap is the quickest way to inject some competition into audit March 7, 2019 As you read this, the Kingman review, the Competition and Markets Authority review, the Brydon review, and the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee are all scrutinising the audit profession following a series of high-profile scandals. Failures such as Carillion, BHS, and Patisserie Valerie present very different problems, but each case rightly led to [...]
Top Interserve shareholder threatens to sue outsourcer over ‘terrible’ rescue deal February 27, 2019 Interserve's hopes of appeasing rebel shareholder Coltrane Asset Management with an amended rescue deal have been dashed, with the hedge fund instead threatening to start legal proceedings against the firm. As it announced its full-year results, the outsourcing giant this morning updated its rescue refinancing deal, giving shareholders five per cent of its total value, up [...]
Financial Reporting Council extends probe into Carillion’s accounts February 26, 2019 Britain’s accounting watchdog will look even further into the past in its investigation of the audit of failed outsourcing giant Carillion. For the first time the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) probe will stretch to work done in 2013 – but a spokesperson declined to say why this was. Read more: KPMG boss confident in Carillion [...]