Headlines

The UK accounting watchdog is set to announce an investigation into the three auditors of collapsed investment business London Capital & Finance, according to people familiar with the situation, the Financial Times reported. Big Four accountants EY and PwC, as well as Oliver Clive & Co, a small London-based firm, each signed off LCF’s books for three years before it went into administration in January 2019, in a high-profile scandal related to the mis-selling of mini-bonds.

The fiscal fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and low oil prices could affect Colombia for several years, Richard Francis, director of sovereign ratings at ratings agency Fitch, said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Colombia’s government predicts the usually healthy economy will contract 5.5% this year. The country has suspended its fiscal deficit limits for 2020 and 2021 and issued billions in bonds as unemployment rises and businesses close during a months-long quarantine.

More than £28bn has been lent to the UK’s smallest companies to help them through the coronavirus pandemic, with the number of state-backed “bounce back” loans continuing to rise sharply despite the easing of lockdown restrictions, the Financial Times reported. The Treasury on Tuesday said that almost £2bn of these light-touch loans had been taken by so-called micro businesses in the past week alone, with the total number of businesses that have used the business bailout scheme standing at more than 921,000.

Rising French corporate debt could leave firms struggling to survive and saddle banks with dud loans, the central bank said on Tuesday in its biannual financial risk report, Reuters reported. French companies went into the coronavirus crisis with debt already at record levels, topping 72% of gross domestic product at the end of last year, according to the Bank of France. A nearly two-month coronavirus lockdown left many with little choice but to tap state-guaranteed bank loans as their cashflows all but dried up, providing short-term relief by adding to their debt burdens.

JD Sports on Tuesday appointed Deloitte as administrator for its loss-making outdoor clothing chain as it bought back assets of the unit in a pre-pack administration deal, Reuters reported. Go Outdoors, which JD first bought for 112 million pounds ($140.19 million) four years ago, has struggled with significant losses as sales declined at its 67 stores, and JD had been exploring options for the division while the coronavirus lockdown mounted further pressure.

Singapore’s Hin Leong Trading (Pte) Ltd has no future as an independent company after it “grossly overstated” the value of its assets by at least $3 billion, according to a preliminary report prepared by a court-appointed supervisor, Reuters reported. In the report filed this week in Singapore’s High Court and reviewed by Reuters, the interim judicial managers from PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services Pte. Ltd (PwC) said they had found a significant number of irregularities in the Singapore oil trader’s finances.

Administrators in charge of South African airline Comair said on Tuesday they have been given an extension to June 30 to submit a restructuring plan for the carrier, Reuters reported. Earlier in the day the administrators said they had received a cash offer for the carrier from a company they did not name. The administrators, who had been expected to present a restructuring plan for the airline on Tuesday, asked creditors for another week - until June 30 - to finalise the cash offer before presenting the plan.

Intu Properties’ attempts to stave off administration are set to go down to the wire, with the heavily indebted UK shopping centre owner locked in tense negotiations with its lenders ahead of a Friday deadline, the Financial Times reported. The company is negotiating a standstill agreement which would allow it to pause debt repayments for at least a year. If an agreement is not reached, KPMG has been appointed to plan for administration. Discussions were “finely balanced” and there was “no certainty as to whether Intu will achieve a standstill”, said the company.

Argentina will release its first quarter GDP and unemployment figures today, amid the negative economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and uncertainty produced by debt restructuring negotiations, Foreign Brief reported. The COVID-19 crisis has ravaged Argentina’s already ailing economy. After a 1.1% year-on-year contraction in the fourth quarter of 2019 and declining economic activity during the first two months of 2020, the pandemic has deepened the country’s recession and exacerbated its troubled fiscal position.

The State’s corporate watchdog has moved to ease concerns of directors of businesses seeking to trade through financial problems caused by the coronavirus economic shock, but where the company ultimately goes under, The Irish Times reported. When liquidators are appointed to insolvent companies, they must issue a report to the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) and initiate court proceedings seeking to have directors restricted, unless they are granted a waiver by the watchdog from doing so.