Portsmouth FC administrators axe 85 jobs to cut costs

The administrators of Portsmouth have started to make employees redundant, with 85 people losing their jobs.

Administrator Andrew Andronikou said no players were being made redundant as they were the "shop window" with regards to finding a potential buyer.  He also said he had held constructive talks with the tax authorities, and provided them with further details about club finances.  Portsmouth are the first Premier League club to enter administration.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been seeking a winding up order against the club, and Portsmouth is due in the High Court next Monday, as revenues and customs officials have challenged the terms of the club's administration.  He said that the authorities "should now be satisfied" that his appointment as administrator was valid.

The administrator was adamant that all prize money earned by Portsmouth from reaching the FA Cup semi-final would go to the club.

He added that Portsmouth would be taking its place in the semi-final and would "certainly fulfil its fixture list this season and begin the new season in August 2010".

Mr Andronikou also said chief executive Peter Storrie - who has been criticised over his handling of Portsmouth's troubles - had tendered his resignation. In the meantime, he has taken a 40% wage cut and currently remains in his post.

"Peter Storrie has tendered his resignation, he is working to a timetable. He is still chief exge," Mr Andronikou said.

He added that his hands were tied in relation to the playing wage bill as the players were "very much protected by [players' union] the PFA".

Before the job cuts the club had a staff of 166 full-time employees, and 154 part-time.

The club's administrator added that he had received substantial interest in buyers for the stricken club, but only two had been able to show proof of funds.

Posted at 07:42PM Mar 10, 2010 by Kelly Board in Insolvency  |  Comments[0]

Fraudsters Going 'Phishing'

More and more fraudsters are switching to raiding internet bank accounts over the more common card fraud, this comes as card fraud falls for the first time in three years according to the UK Cards Association.

Losses on UK credit and debit cards fell by 28% in 2009 compared with the 12 months previous, totalling £440m over the course of the year.  Meanwhile, in the same period ‘phishing,’ a term used to describe emails that get people to enter banking details by copying bank websites, rose by 16%.

The rise in popularity of this has seen criminals using more and more different methods in gaining the information they are after.  In order to avoid bank security, fraudsters are first gaining details from the individuals in order to log in as that person so the bank’s website wouldn’t recognise any wrong doing.

This is being done through the use of ‘malware,’ this is the use of new software that gets users to download fake goods that then begin to track their computer usage leading to the person inadvertently revealing all of their details.

The rise in the number of ‘phishing’ attacks meant, also led to a rise in the amount of money actually lost by people due to the new trend, this hit £59.7m in 2009.  Whilst at the moment this may not be anywhere near as severe as card fraud losses, as more and more people begin banking online, and software becomes even more technologically advanced, it may turn out to become a larger problem very quickly.

Card fraud is now at its lowest rate since the early ‘90s.  It is thought chip and pin is the reason behind the fall in fraud on lost and stolen cards as people can no longer use them without the pin code.

All forms of card fraud saw a fall last year, the largest of which was that of counterfeit cards being used, this halved compared to 2008.  Whereas mail-non-receipt and card not present fraud along with cheque fraud and cases of UK cards being used abroad all fell by considerable margins.

"We are committed to a wide range of measures to ensure customers feel confident, safe and secure when they use their credit and debit cards - whether in a shop, abroad, online, at a cash machine or anywhere else," said Melanie Johnson, who chairs the UK Cards Association.

"We recognise that cards will always be targeted by criminals, so we are determined not only to continue to prevent, detect and deter those who are behind this type of crime, but also to make sure that innocent victims do not lose out."

 All UK customers are entitled to a refund to from their card supplier if they to become victim to fraud, subject to the individual not being guilty of neglect themselves resulting in the fraud against them.

Stephen Ley, partner at accountancy firm Deloitte, said: "In the next year clear customer information from banks will remain key to reduce fraud further. A better educated consumer is less likely to fall foul of phishing attacks.

"Customers need to protect themselves on their computer, remaining vigilant and using good security software."

Posted at 10:36AM Mar 10, 2010 by Marc Stenton in UK Economy News  |  Comments[0]

UK trade deficit widens to biggest in 17 months

The UK's trade gap with the rest of the world widened unexpectedly in January to its largest since August 2008.

Exports saw their sharpest drop in more than three years, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The UK's trade gap in goods and services widened to £3.8bn, compared with £2.6bn in December.

The news came as a disappointment and caused the pound to weaken, dipping 0.4% to 1.10 euros and losing 0.75% against the dollar to below $1.50.

The UK's currency has fallen by some 24% against a basket of world currencies since early 2007 - before the global economic crisis.

That fall in the value of the pound, making UK goods cheaper abroad, might have been expected to boost sales overseas.

But BBC economics editor Stephanie Flanders said that in difficult economic conditions, UK manufacturers may have taken advantage of a weaker sterling to increase their profit margins rather than increase sales.

"There is no doubt that the sharpest fall in the value of sterling since the war happened at a bad time for exporters to make the most of it," she said.

"It is perhaps not surprising that our exporters tried to extract every last penny out of the demand that was still there."

Increased imports

The trade gap in physical goods widened to £7.99bn, well above the £7bn economists had forecast.

Meanwhile, December's figure was revised down to £7bn from its original £7.3bn.

The goods trade gap with non-European Union countries was also wider than forecast.

That stood at £4.8bn, from £3.4bn in December, after exports to countries outside the EU dropped by 12.5% on the month and imports rose by 1.6%.

The ONS said there was no obvious reason for this month's deteriorating picture, although some have suggested that the particularly bad weather in January may have disrupted trade flows.

The unexpected data came as a surprise - and a disappointment - to experts.

Jeremy Stretch, senior market strategist at Rabobank, said: "It could be that the weakening of sterling is taking time to feed through - but that may be painting too much of a positive on a negative set of numbers."

"It's a pretty disappointing number," said analyst Alan Clarke, of BNP Paribas.

"Trade is one area where people have been expecting an improvement but it doesn't seem to be happening. In the big picture this is bad news for quarter one GDP."

Posted at 08:47PM Mar 09, 2010 by Kelly Board in UK Economy News  |  Comments[0]

Retail Sales Improve in February

January’s cold snap seems to have boosted retails sales in February after shoppers moved to obtain the goods they were forced to postpone the previous month. This has come from the British Rail Consortium (BRC), as like for like sales have gone up 2.2% after a fall in January.

However, the figures are being treated with caution, as last February, trading figures were very poor following weather similar to what happened in January.  Food sales also grew at their slowest rate since 2007, leading to mixed feelings about the latest figures.

“Despite appearances, these results are not that strong," commented Stephen Robertson, director general of the BRC.

"The growth is compared with very weak figures a year ago when February saw the worst of last winter's weather and this February's performance was helped by sales postponed from January - particularly sales of non-food items such as homewares and fashion."

Confectionary and Jewellery had a very good month as sales improve during the lead up to Valentine’s Day, while the sales delays in January led to the best sales coming over the first week of February.

The poor food figures are thought to be due to the panic buying and stock piling in January as people sought to make sure they had plenty of food during the bad weather.

The end of the bad weather also saw online and telephone sales boom, as deliveries were allowed to begin again, they were up by 15.5% compared with February last year.

Posted at 09:53AM Mar 09, 2010 by Marc Stenton in UK Economy News  |  Comments[0]

Fish dealer Seatek in administration

Seatek (UK) Ltd and its subsidiary John Koch is a leading frozen, fresh and ambient fish and seafood wholesaler in Britain. With sales offices throughout the UK and Ireland, the company website says Seatek offers a 'one stop shop for the wholesale and catering sector, controlling every aspect of the supply process from catch through to delivery.' It looks after the whole supply process from buying the catches at the quayside through to storage, distribution and delivery to restaurants, fishmongers and fish’n’chip shops. The company employs around 65 staff and had a £39 million turnover last year.

Jason Godefroy and Andrew Stoneman, Partners at MCR, were appointed Administrators of Seatek (UK) Ltd, Oriental Delight Foodservice Ltd, and Vision Seafoods Ltd . Jason Godefroy and Declan Taite (FGS Partnership) were appointed Joint Receivers of Evergreen Food Services Ltd, based in Co Kildare, Ireland.

The Seatek administrators have indicated that while they are not sure what has happened, they were confident the problems are not due to market forces or other outside factors as the company appeared to be trading well. They will now go through the books to establish the full financial situation before, hopefully, trying to find a buyer for the business. As yet there is no news on jobs.

Two weeks ago the main British Seafood group, including Five Star Fish of Grimsby, was placed in the hands of the administrators Deloitte

Posted at 07:52PM Mar 08, 2010 by Kelly Board in Insolvency  |  Comments[0]

Mortgages Available on the Rise

The number of mortgages available to prospective buyers has increased over the past month with over 1700 mortgage deals with a deposit of 0-40% available at the beginning of this month.

This figure showed a 6% increase on February and a massive 68% rise on this time last year.  This comes according to research from the financial information service Moneyfacts.

Out of these deals available though, there are still only very few available with a 0-5% deposit. However there has been a significant rise in the number of deals with a 10-15% deposit available, there are now 489 such deals on the market, almost double the number of this time last year of just 258.

Michelle Slade, an employee of Moneyfacts said, "There are a growing number of mortgage providers who are becoming a little more accommodating with their credit criteria and this bodes well for consumers who will benefit from a growing competitive mortgage market,

"It is pleasing to see that the average mortgage rate is falling at the same time as deposit requirements are getting smaller."

 Further good news comes from the number of lenders that have decreased their interest rates on mortgages over the past few weeks.  These include, Lloyds, RBS, Cheltenham & Gloucester, Northern Rock and Alliance & Leicester, with most cuts being between 0.1% and 0.5%.

Furthermore, RBS has also increased its maximum advance for first time buyers, they have doubled it for £150,000 up to £300,000, giving more indication of the current willingness to lend in the market.

"The biggest reductions in interest rates have tended to be at the highest loan-to-value (LTV) levels, at 85% in particular," said Ray Boulger of mortgage brokers John Charcol.

"It tells us partly that lenders have more money to lend," he added.

The willingness of lenders has increased due to the constant rise in house prices over the past year, meaning they have new been able to lend against an appreciating asset, rather than a depreciating one.

Boulger also added, "Increasingly in the last few weeks, some lenders have improved their offerings over 75% LTV, which is down to the consideration that it is more commercially viable - the risk is that much less."

Despite the positive outlook of these figures, the number of mortgage deals requiring more than a 25% deposit has stayed fairly high, 57% of deals still need this level of down payment compared with 68% last year.  However, going back a couple of years to before the credit crunch began to bite, in August ’07, just 16% of mortgage deals required a deposit of 25%.

Posted at 11:10AM Mar 08, 2010 by Marc Stenton in Mortgages & Housing Market  |  Comments[0]

Tax Dodgers to be Named and Shamed

From the 1^st April onwards, anyone who dodges more than £25,000 worth of their tax liability will be named and shamed by Her Majesties Revenue and Customs in an attempt to cut down the number of tax dodgers in the UK.

The plan to introduce this has been known about since last year’s budget, however the date has only recently been set for when it would be implemented.

The idea has come from a similar format used in Ireland, where the identities of tax cheats have been published for some time, and these names attract widespread publicity in Ireland.  Hopes are that the UK can achieve similar results.

HMRC have also said that the new ruling will only act on tax fraud from the implementation date, meaning everyone previous will not have their name published.  This also means that it is likely to be at least the early months of 2011 before anyone has amassed a high enough figure to go over the threshold and have their details published.

"This new approach should make people think again about trying to get away with tax fraud," said Stephen Timms, Financial Secretary to the Treasury.

"As well as having to pay the tax, interest on the tax, plus penalties of up to 100% of the tax lost, they also now risk being identified publicly," he added.

A spokesman for HMRC has said that anyone who does fulfil the criteria to be named, will have the chance to plead any mitigating circumstances to avoid the bad publicity should they win the case.

But he warned that, "if taxpayers have been cheating and they do not tell us, no amount of good representation will help them avoid being named."

Stephen Camm, tax partner at PwC, said: "Being named publicly in this way could be likened to 'ASBOs for tax evaders', causing a lot of damage to the individual's personal and commercial reputation."

Posted at 09:26AM Mar 07, 2010 by Marc Stenton in UK Economy News  |  Comments[0]

Faulty Goods Costing Us Dear

Faulty goods are costing UK buyers on average £5000 over the course of their lifetime, purely due to the fact many people fear returning goods.

A recent poll done for the Department for business showed that over half of the people asked had at least one faulty good somewhere in their household that, for various reasons, had not been returned despite the fact they do not work properly.

Many people blame embarrassment, nerves or the fear of intimidation for their lack of willingness to return faulty goods, with second hand cars being one of the most complained about items.  Low value items also tend to be kept.

The survey, conducted through 3000 people showed that women are losing less money than men due to the problem, with men losing around £89 per year compared to women’s £71.

The reasoning section showed women were the more likely ones to be embarrassed about returning goods whereas men were more likely to feel intimidated.

The survey has been done as part of a larger campaign being done in order to make all UK consumers more aware of their rights when buying goods.

"We want to do all we can to encourage people not to lose out financially because they do not know their rights," said Consumer Minister Kevin Brennan.

"Now is the time to brush up on your consumer rights so you can return any faulty or unwanted goods with added confidence."

All consumers are entitled to a repair, replacement of refund for a good if it turns out to be faulty, and they must also act on the case ‘within a reasonable time,’ usually considered to be around a month with most retailers.

Posted at 10:11AM Mar 06, 2010 by Marc Stenton in UK Economy News  |  Comments[0]

Metro Bank gets official go-ahead in UK High Street

A proposed new High Street bank, Metro Bank, has been given a banking licence by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

The bank plans to open two branches in central London in the next three months.

It aims to expand to more than 200 in Greater London within ten years.

The bank says it will put special emphasis on giving good service to customers, including a special welcome for their dogs.

"The banking environment was fundamentally changed following the credit crunch, and we have seen seismic changes in the retail UK banking industry as a result," said Anthony Thomson, Metro Bank chairman.

"With the FSA authorisation of Metro Bank we are entering a new era of banking, one where we go back to a more traditional banking model where customer service is key and there is deposit based lending.

"We believe that by providing unparalleled service and convenience, Metro Bank will stand out from other High Street banks," he said.

Dogs welcome

Since the banking crisis led to the part-nationalisation of both the RBS and Lloyds banking groups, the government has been keen to encourage new banking businesses to set in the UK's High Streets.

The authorities are planning to sell off part of the recently re-organised Northern Rock, and would-be bankers such as Sir Richard Branson are lining themselves up to buy it.

In January Sir Richard's Virgin Money business obtained a banking licence by buying the regional bank Church House Trust.

It will be rebranded as Virgin Money, will offer savings accounts and mortgages, and is a platform for a potential bid for the Northern Rock once it is put up for sale.

Among the executive and non-executive directors of Metro Bank are people with extensive senior experience at other financial institutions such as RBS, HBOS, Anglo Irish Bank, Barclaycard, Bank of America and the Nationwide Building Society.

The co-founder of Metro Bank, along with the chairman Anthony Thompson, is Vernon Hill.

He built up a bank on the East Coast of the USA called Commerce Bank, which started with one branch in 1973 but eventually grew to 500 branches.

He is currently the chairman of the US pet insurer Pet Plan America.

Metro Bank stressed its friendly attitude to pets.

"A friendly welcome to dogs and their owners, with water bowls and dog biscuits on hand for man's best friend - dogs rule at Metro Bank!" said the bank's announcement.

Posted at 07:52PM Mar 05, 2010 by Kelly Board in UK Economy News  |  Comments[0]

'Brutal' Year For WPP

The largest advertising group, WPP is hoping for a more positive and more stable year this year after profits fall by 11% last year as the economic downturn took its toll on thousands of companies.  Despite this however, the company did still turn a profit of £633m.

 ‘Staring into the abyss,’ was the phrase that chief executive, Sir Martin Sorrell used to describe last year, but he also added that he believes they may have turned the corner heading into this year.

Cuts were made last year to the 140,000 string workforce, however Sorrell also said that the firm are beginning to hire again.

Hopes are that 2010 will be far more stable for WPP, this belief was following however, by the phrase ‘famous last words,’ possible revealing Sorrell is more sceptical about coming months than he is wanting to show to the public.

"Although 2009 was a brutal year overall the group adjusted its cost base, after a difficult first six months, to falling like-for-like revenues," the firm said.

Continued growth is expected this year in Brazil, Russia, India and China over the course of this year, these have become known as the Bric countries.

Mr Sorrell also revealed India in particular as their main hope for a better 2010 due to the fact they are currently going through a consumer boom.

Major sporting events in 2010 are also carrying high hopes for advertising companies to bolster their revenues.  The winter Olympic Games have recently been held in Vancouver and there are also the upcoming Asian Games in Guangzhou along with possibly the largest event there is, the World Cup begins in June.  These are all great opportunities for advertising companies to augment their incomes.

Posted at 11:27AM Mar 05, 2010 by Marc Stenton in UK Economy News  |  Comments[0]

Interest rates held at record low after one year at 0.5%

The Bank of England's monetary policy committee left interest rates on hold at their record low of 0.5% today, as news of a fresh decline in house prices underlined the fragility of economic recovery.

Halifax said house prices fell by 1.5% in February, adding to fears that the rally in the property market has run out of steam, after the MPC decided to wait for more evidence that the economy is improving before reversing its recession-busting policies.

Interest rates were slashed to 0.5% last March, at the same time as the Bank announced that it would implement the radical policy of quantitative easing. By the end of last year, it had injected £200bn into the economy.

Today's decision, to leave rates at 0.5% and extend the "pause" in QE, was widely expected by financial markets.

"With considerable uncertainty still surrounding the economic outlook, the BoE is likely to remain in 'wait and see' mode for some time yet, in order to gauge the strength of the recovery and the risks to inflation over the medium term," said Colin Ellis, of Daiwa Capital Markets.

Posted at 08:14PM Mar 04, 2010 by Kelly Board in UK Economy News  |  Comments[0]

12 Prospects For Pompey

Andrew Andronikou, Administrator of Portsmouth FC has expressed that a dozen parties have shown interest in a possible takeover of the club, although he has refused to put any sort of timescale on when he hopes a deal will go through.

The club were officially placed in Administration last week following a dramatic financial downfall which saw the club go from FA Cup winners to the brink of liquidation in the space of 18 months.  4 different owners have taken charge of the club in the last 6 months.

Andronikou wants to assess the ‘quality of interest’ in each prospective buyer before beginning any negotiations as to the sale of the club.

He said, “We have received about a dozen expressions of interest, we need to sit down first and look at funding.”

Andronikou also stated that he has received ‘proof of funds’ from two interested party, however he has knocked them back asking for further ‘transparent proof’ in order to clarify that the ownership is being passed on properly.

"There is no timescale," he added. "We are not rushing. We want to do it properly.

"We need a measured approach.

"It's about putting the club in the hands of someone who is going to look after it and make sure it's in a good position in three, six, nine months' time."

One of the parties is likely to be New Zealand businessman Victor Cattermole, who has been reported to be interested since before the club entered Administration, whilst the other is thought to be the Intermarket Group, who almost bought West Ham in January before Davids’ Gold and Sullivan completed their takeover at the East London Outfit.

Andronikou has also stated that the impending court case, investigating his appointment will not hinder his plans in finding a buyer.  He did appear at court on Tuesday, when the hearing was adjourned for two weeks after HMRC questioned his independence in the matter believing he may have previous links to owner Balram Chainrai.

Furthermore, he is scheduled to meet the Premier League this afternoon after a previous meeting was postponed because of the court case.  Andronikou is said to be maintaining hope that the clubs 9 point penalty for entering Administration will be waived by the Premier League.

Meanwhile, the Premier League have said that they are waiting until the outcome of the second hearing before making a decision on the penalty.

Posted at 04:07PM Mar 04, 2010 by Marc Stenton in Insolvency  |  Comments[0]

UK service industry rebounds after snowy January

Britain's service industries bounced back strongly last month after the disruption caused by January's wintry weather, suggesting that the UK economic recovery is gathering pace.

The dominant service sector expanded at its fastest pace in more than three years in February, data released this morning showed. This follows last week's news that the economy grew by a faster-than-expected 0.3% in the fourth quarter when it came out of its longest and deepest recession on record.

Vicky Redwood of Capital Economics said together with strong growth in manufacturing and construction last month, the services outturn points to overall economic growth of 1% in the first three months of 2010. "At the very least the survey will ease concerns that the economy may have fallen back into recession this quarter," she said.

The closely watched purchasing managers index (PMI), compiled by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply/Markit to measure service sector activity, jumped to 58.4 in February from 54.5 in January, when heavy snow brought large parts of the country to a standstill. This more than reversed January's drop and marked the highest outturn since the start of 2007.

"The latest data confirms that the underlying trend in the private service sector remains positive and is on course to deliver a quarterly expansion above 1% in the first quarter," said Paul Smith of Markit. "When combined with the positive manufacturing results, February's PMI surveys augur well for the economy to build on the momentum of exiting recession in the fourth quarter."

A sub-index measuring new business in services increased to 57.5 from 53.4, the highest since September 2007. Encouragingly, job prospects improved in the service sector, with the employment reading the highest since April 2008. Price pressures also picked up, with prices rising at their fastest rate since October 2008.

Posted at 08:29PM Mar 03, 2010 by Kelly Board in UK Economy News  |  Comments[0]

Job Market Steadily Improving

The UK job market has continued to improve and has now shown its largest growth in permanent staff positions since July 2007, according to a new report.

This comes from a study done by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG, they have said that more full time jobs were added over the past month than at any point in two and a half years previous to that.

On a more negative note, the report has shown that temporary positions, although continuing to increase, have grown at their slowest rate for three months.

 It has also said that they are expecting that incoming plans to cut public sector jobs may have an impact on the wider economy.

The IT sector along with engineering and construction have shown themselves to be leading the way in the creation of new jobs, the report has said these sector are ‘clearly on the rebound.’

"The latest figures seem to confirm that the UK jobs market is on the road to recovery," said KPMG's head of business services, Bernard Brown.

"However, this all comes with one big warning - the impact of the inevitable public sector recession on the jobs market has yet to be felt, and will be played out over the next six months."

The report has been compiled after speaking to 400 employment consultancies about the recent trends in the market.

Furthermore, the report has shown that there has now been a growth recorded for five consecutive months.

Posted at 02:06PM Mar 03, 2010 by Marc Stenton in UK Economy News  |  Comments[0]

Exeter Northcott placed into administration

Posted at 07:14PM Mar 02, 2010 by Kelly Board in Insolvency  |  Comments[0]