Some of the contents of the pages on this site are Copyright © 2016 NJH Music | [Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index] Re: future of Boosey & Hawkes
>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 Front Page | UK News | International | Weather | Crosswords | Matt cartoon | Feedback City News | City Analysis | Small Businesses | Personal Finance (Telegraph Money) | Alex cartoon Sport | Football | Rugby Union | Rugby League | Cricket | Golf | Tennis | Motor Racing | Other Sport Features | Review | Books | Gallery | Technology (Connected) | Travel (Planet) | Motoring | Property Education (Virtual School) | Students (Juiced) | Teenagers (T2) | Obituaries | Opinion (Daily Telegraph) Expat World (Global Network) | Search | Site Plan | Daily Index | Appointments | Jobs @ ET | Classifieds | Horoscopes Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2000. Terms & Conditions of reading. Commercial information. Privacy Policy. Information about www.telegraph.co.uk. --
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