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Re: future of Boosey & Hawkes

To: "Brass Band Mailing List" <brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: future of Boosey & Hawkes
From: "Alec Gallagher" <alec@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2000 18:16:28 -0000

>From The Daily Telegraph last month.

Alec








	    ISSUE 2002 Friday 17 November 2000





      Bad vibes from Chicago shake Boosey & Hawkes
			By Alistair Osborne, City Correspondent

















	     Boosey & Hawkes plc




	      BOOSEY & HAWKES shares hit their lowest note for nine years
yesterday, dropping 55 to 147.5p, after the musical instruments maker
discovered a further 11.9m of accounting irregularities at its
Chicago-based distribution operation.

				'What I am confident about is that we have
got to the bottom of the bad debt problem '
				Richard Holland at half-year results,
September 12

				'The situation is very different to the
position at the half-year. We now feel that there has been a huge deception
perpetrated by the two individuals that have been terminated'
				Richard Holland, yesterday




			The discovery comes on top of the bad debts it
unearthed at its half-year results in September, where a 3.52m provision
sent profits before tax crashing from 2.33m to just 465,000.

			Richard Holland, chief executive, said Boosey was
"considering taking legal action" against the former president and chief
financial officer of its Chicago business, whom he declined to name "on the
advice of our lawyers". They were dismissed prior to the half-year results.

			He alleged the pair were responsible for "a very
sophisticated and complex deception", involving "fundamentally incorrect and
highly misleading accounting", carried out over three years.

			He added the group was also "evaluating our options"
over action against its former auditors, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, and its
current ones, Ernst & Young. It is appointing "independent investigating
accountants". Mr Holland said: "The thing that has left us feeling extremely
puzzled and perplexed is how these issues have escaped two sets of
auditors."

			In September, Mr Holland said: "What I am confident
about is that we have got to the bottom of the bad debt problem." Yesterday,
he said a full audit of the Chicago business by E&Y had discovered a further
2m of bad debts.

			 In addition, E&Y found "totally fictitious asset
balances" and other irregularities, totalling almost 10m. He said: "The
situation we now face is very different to the position at the half-year.

			"We now feel that there has been a huge deception
perpetrated by the two individuals that have been terminated. We still don't
fully understand why or how this was done, but we are confident that we know
the financial consequences."

			The 11.9m exceptional hit will plunge the group,
now valued at just 29m, into full-year losses. It had 57.1m debts at the
half-year. Mr Holland refused to say whether Boosey had breached its banking
covenants with Barclays and NatWest. He would only say: "We are keeping our
banks fully informed."

			Boosey is selling its Edgware factory and exploring
"further asset disposals to reduce the overall debt burden". It stressed its
"other businesses" were "performing in line with expectations".


			13 September 2000: Chicago blues for Boosey
			29 January 2000: Rising damp hits Boosey profits







			 Spirent adds on Hekimian for 1.1bn





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