Two former Serco Group (SRP) directors have been charged with fraud and false accounting over its electronic tagging scandal. Nicholas Woods, ex-finance director of Serco Home Affairs, and Simon Marshall, former operations director of field services within the outsourcing group, face the allegations after an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). It comes after Serco paid a £23million fine to the authority as part of an out-of-court settlement. The company reported itself to the SFO in 2013 after it was revealed to have charged the Government for tagging criminals who were dead, in jail, or had left the country. Yesterday the SFO said it had jointly charged Woods and Marshall with one count of fraud by false representation and one count of false accounting over representations made to the Ministry of Justice between 2011 and 2013. Marshall is also accused of two counts of fraud by false representation, and Woods of one count of false accounting in relation to the 2011 statutory accounts of Serco Geografix.
FirstGroup (FGP) has announced the appointment of advisers to formally look into selling its US assets following pressure from shareholders. Previously the company hailed its US business, including First Student and First Transit, as ‘valuable assets and well positioned in markets with profitable growth’, although it said it would give any offers ‘serious consideration’. Bosses also said they would look at selling the First Bus business in the UK, alongside existing plans to ditch the Greyhound coach business. But on Monday, the company said it had appointed advisers to ‘formally explore all options in respect of our North American contract businesses, First Student and First Transit, including a potential disposal’.
has said a tax audit by the Belgian authorities ‘will not lead to material liabilities’ as the company recorded a sharp rise in revenues and pre-tax profits. The company said a €674million tax inquiry into unpaid VAT in Belgium is progressing well and bosses expect a decision to be made by early next year. The parent company of House of Fraser and Lillywhites saw revenues in the first half of the financial year rise by 14% to £2.04billion and profits soar to £193.4million. Nearly half of the rise in revenue was due to an expansion in premium lifestyle sales, which rose by 79.2% in the six months to 27 October. The company also received a boost from the £84.9million sale and leaseback of its Shirebrook distribution centre.
Yu Group (YU.) soared after announcing a deal which should allow it to free up more cash. The firm has previously had to keep cash aside to cover its hedging deals. These agreements involve Yu buying wholesale energy ahead of time to mitigate soaring energy prices in the future. But it has agreed a £13m credit facility with Smartest Energy to cover hedging, so it won’t have to set aside the cash any more.
Tullow Oil (TLW) slid another 6.9p, to 60.9p yesterday a week after the company ousted its chief executive, slashed its future production forecasts and cancelled its dividend. Analysts at HSBC cut their recommendation on the FTSE 250 stock from hold to reduce, prompting last week’s 52% slump to resume. Investors had already been hit by a sell-off in November, after Tullow revealed problems with its Ghana drilling operations and the disappointing discovery of heavy crude oil, rather than the more desirable light crude, at its site in Guyana.
Studio Retail Group, added to Mike Ashley’s stellar day. The value clothing and homeware company, previously called , sold its educational resources arm for £50million to the Council of the City of Wakefield, which is the lead authority in the Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation. The deal, which should help Studio to focus on its consumer business, caused shares to jump 13.5p, to 233.5p. It boosted the value of Ashley’s 37% stake, owned through Sports Direct, by more than £1million.
Influential asset manager Royal London said that Playtech (PTEC) latest pay proposals, which are due to be put to a vote this Thursday at the annual shareholder meeting, give investors a ‘raw deal’. The bonus scheme Playtech is suggesting it could hand its chief executive Mor Weizer more than £30million of shares, and has already been rejected by shareholder advisory groups ISS and Glass Lewis. Royal London’s head of responsible investment, Ashley Hamilton Claxton, pointed out that the scheme offers Weizer rewards for meeting share price targets which are below the level at which Playtech’s shares traded in July last year, before a profit warning. She added that Weizer will be able to claim his rights to each chunk of rewards after the shares have seen just one month of sustained performance. Hamilton Claxton said: ‘Structures like this can potentially encourage management to prioritise short-term share performance over long-term value creation. ‘We will therefore be voting against this plan at the company’s upcoming general meeting.’
A weekend meeting between the bosses of gold miner Centamin (DI) (CEY) and its suitor Endeavour means the possibility of a deal between the two companies is now inching closer. Centamin, which is focused mainly on Egypt, rejected a £1.47billion bid from Canadian rival Endeavour earlier this month, saying the deal did not offer enough value to shareholders. But Centamin’s chairman and Endeavour’s chief executive met in the Australian city of Perth this weekend and agreed that they would both examine each other’s companies as part of a due diligence exercise. Endeavour said this would be ‘a critical precursor’ to agreeing further terms of the deal. Under takeover rules, Endeavour must state whether it will make a formal bid or not by December 31. It now wants Centamin to request an extension to the deadline, to give it more time.
