Banks step up Brexit advice to small firms. The banking industry will come together with leading business groups to issue emergency Brexit advice to small and medium-sized companies amid concerns that few business owners are prepared for a disruptive “no deal” exit from the European Union, The Times can reveal. Business groups including the Federation of Small Businesses, the British Chambers of Commerce and the CBI, as well as trade groups and accountancy bodies, met UK Finance, the banking industry trade body, this month to discuss the intervention. Banks and business advisers believe there could be a significant increase in demand for loans, including from companies that have never approached a lender before, in the event of a “no deal”.
US sanctions lifted on Deripaska’s En+ and Rusal. The US has lifted sanctions on Oleg Deripaska’s energy and aluminium companies after the Russian oligarch agreed to give up control of the groups. The decision late yesterday is likely to have a significant effect on the aluminium market today as it removes some uncertainty over Rusal, the world’s second biggest producer of the metal. Aluminium prices surged last April when the US Treasury imposed the financial restrictions but have fallen back in expectation of the sanctions being lifted. The restrictions are being lifted on En+, the London-listed energy group, and Rusal, the Hong Kong-listed aluminium group, and EuroSibEnergo JSC, a Russian energy company. En+ owns hydroelectric power plants in Russia and 48% of Rusal.
Lid is lifted on £40m black hole at heart of Patisserie Holdings (CAKE). The high street branches of HSBC and Barclays in Solihull in the West Midlands are more used to customers opening current accounts than participating in what could become one the most notable frauds at a British company in recent memory. Cheques worth millions of pounds were bounced at the banks, a 20-minute drive from the head office of Patisserie Valerie in Birmingham, according to a report by PWC, the accounting firm, and may have been used to artificially inflate the cash reserves of accounts belonging to the café chain. The report by PWC, which has been investigating the suspected fraud that led to the collapse of Patisserie Valerie for the past three months, has not been published. It contains details of ways a black hole of more than £40 million was hidden in the accounts of Patisserie Holdings, its parent company. PWC has identified forged company minutes used to take out overdrafts of almost £10 million, bank contracts with forged signatures of some senior directors and fictitious invoices for shop refurbishments. All of this went undetected for at least three years and possibly far longer until an announcement to shareholders in October in which the company revealed “significant and potentially fraudulent accounting irregularities”.
Tesco’s fresh counters may get chop. Unions have demanded meetings with Tesco (TSCO) over reports that the supermarket plans to cut thousands of jobs. Usdaw, which represents shop workers, and Unite said the news was concerning and that they wanted clarification on the plans. Tesco may cut as many as 15,000 jobs and close some of its meat, fish and deli counters in a new drive to bring down costs. In what would rank as one of the biggest culls under the leadership of Dave Lewis, it may also use frozen dough instead of fresh at in-store bakeries, and replace some staff canteens with vending machines, according to a report. Closing fresh-food counters would reduce the need for skilled staff, such as bakers, and would affect the majority of Tesco’s 732 larger stores, often branded as Tesco Extra and each typically employing about a dozen workers preparing and serving fresh food.
Time is right to eject chairman, insists Flybe’s biggest shareholder. Flybe Group (FLYB) is to consider a demand by its largest shareholder to oust its chairman of five years amid a wrangle over a planned deal by the low-cost airline to sell itself to a consortium led by Virgin Atlantic. Europe’s largest regional airline is expected to issue a statement to the stock market today confirming that Hosking Partners has requisitioned an extraordinary meeting for a vote on whether to evict Simon Laffin, a veteran director. With a stake of about 19% that gives it the right to order a shareholder vote, Hosking Partners wants to install Eric Kohn, who has been on the boards of several airlines, as a director in Mr Laffin’s place. The investor, which is run by Jeremy Hosking, has already objected to a recommended cut-price deal to sell Flybe to the Connect Airways consortium for 1p a share. The proposal has been restructured to make it a majority asset sale worth £2.8 million that does not require shareholder approval.
