The British government said on Thursday that another 101 jobs at Carillion Plc will be cut, as the fallout from Britain’s biggest corporate failure in a decade continues, Reuters reported. The Official Receiver, which manages insolvencies for the British government, said it safeguarded a further 1,221 jobs at the company but 101 roles have been made redundant. The jobs made redundant relate to back-office functions and engineering support roles that new suppliers no longer require, the statement said. So far 2,250 jobs have been saved and 930 job redundancies have been made.
Read more
Britain’s J. Murphy & Sons Limited has bought Carillion’s UK power framework business for an undisclosed sum, the privately held engineering and construction company said on Wednesday. It will take over Carillion’s position on National Grid’s overhead electricity lines, substation and underground cable framework contracts and Carillion employees will join Murphy, the company said.
Read more
Royal Bank of Scotland on Tuesday denied a British lawmaker's allegation that its executives misled a parliamentary committee over the extent to which the bank mistreated small businesses during and after the financial crisis, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The chief executive and chairman of state-owned RBS were questioned extensively last week by Britain's Treasury Select Committee (TSC) over a restructuring unit that is alleged to have pushed struggling firms into bankruptcy in order to be able to pick up their assets on the cheap.
Read more
The chairman of Carillion said he took “full and complete” responsibility for the construction firm’s collapse, which has put thousands of jobs on the line and left creditors, suppliers and pensioners facing losses of millions of pounds. Employing nearly 18,000 people in Britain, Carillion failed on Jan. 15 when its banks halted funding, triggering Britain’s biggest corporate demise in a decade and forcing the government to step in to guarantee vital public services, Reuters reported.
Read more
In a related story, Bloomberg News reported that, for a leader of the U.K.’s party of business, Prime Minister Theresa May has had plenty of corporate headaches in her 18 months in power. None have been more spectacular than Carillion Plc, the construction giant whose collapse last month threatens to make politically toxic the notion of governments outsourcing to cut costs, Bloomberg News reported. At a parliamentary hearing, lawmakers Tuesday accused its management of being “asleep at the wheel.” Here is a snapshot of how U.K. Plc is going to keep giving May grief.
Read more
The U.K. economy is being bailed out by stronger growth in the euro area and the rest of the world, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, Bloomberg News reported. A better-than-expected global expansion accounted for about a third of the increase in U.K. gross domestic product last year, explaining the nation’s stronger-than-forecast performance in the wake of the Brexit vote, the think tank said in a report Wednesday. The resulting boost to trade, at a time when future commerce relationships remain uncertain, was “critical” for the U.K.
Read more
Most of Carillion’s Canadian business, including facilities management at airports, hospitals and defence sites, is to be taken over by the insurer Fairfax Financial Holdings for an undisclosed amount, the Financial Times reported. More than 4,500 of Carillion Canada’s 7,000 employees will transfer to Toronto-based Fairfax, which has agreed to take over its support services functions, both companies announced on Monday.
Read more
The former owner of Monarch Airlines will look to buy parts of Carillion after the British construction and outsourcing company collapsed under large debts last month, the Financial Times reported. Greybull Capital will be among the bidders interested in buying parts of Carillion that might be ringfenced following its liquidation as an auction takes shape, people familiar with its plans said.
Read more
Capita Plc slumped the most on record after saying it would halt dividend payouts and sell shares to raise capital, triggering further concerns over the state of Britain’s outsourcing sector just two weeks after Carillion Plc collapsed, Bloomberg News reported. London-based Capita, whose customers include the U.K. government as well as firms like Telefonica S.A.’s O2 and retailer Marks & Spencer Group Plc, will seek to raise as much as 700 million pounds ($993.8 million) and plans to sell some non-core assets. The stock fell as much as 46 percent.
Read more
Some borrowers with interest-only mortgages may lose their homes as a result of shortfalls in repayment plans, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority warned. The FCA has identified three peaks in interest-only mortgage repayments, the first of which is currently underway, Bloomberg News reported. Defaults are less likely in the present wave of maturities because the homeowners are approaching retirement and have higher incomes. The next two peaks, from 2027 through 2028 and in 2032, are more at risk of shortfalls, the regulator said.
Read more