Connect with us

Published

on

A former chair of one of Britain’s biggest auditors is to step down as chairman of Interpath, the independent advisory firm, because of a potential conflict of interest involving its private equity backer’s choice of auditor.

Sky News has learnt that Interpath, which has been engaged by billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe on his cost-cutting campaign since taking a stake in Manchester United Football Club, will announce this week that John Connolly is to leave.

Mr Connolly, who has chaired the company since it was formed in 2021, is to hand the reins to Tamara Box, a former managing partner at the City law firm Reed Smith.

Insiders said this weekend that Mr Connolly was stepping down because of the impending appointment of Deloitte as the global auditor of HIG Europe, Interpath’s private equity backer.

Mr Connolly retired as senior partner and UK chief executive of Deloitte in 2011, but continues to receive a pension from the firm.

One source said that he, Interpath and HIG had agreed that his departure would avoid any potential conflict of interest arising, and that HIG needed Deloitte to be conflict-free.

The move is not without irony, given that Interpath’s formation was triggered by KPMG UK’s disposal of its restructuring arm amid growing obstacles posed by conflicts between large accountants’ audit and consulting operations.

More from Money

News of the chairmanship succession will come as Interpath reports a strong performance for its financial year ending March 31, with a roughly-15% increase in revenues and a quadrupling in operating profit over the previous year.

One person familiar with the results said they would show overall revenues of £163.6m and adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £46.3m.

Interpath has been steadily expanding its international network, with a workforce now numbering more than 900 people.

It recently announced a change in its executive leadership, with Mark Raddan replacing Blair Nimmo as chief executive.

The firm has opened an office in Bermuda – a key location for the global restructuring sector – and acquired KPMG’s restructuring business in France.

It also recently recruited David Sawyer, an industry veteran, as a special advisor to aid its expansion into the US.

Interpath also expects to benefit from UK corporate insolvency rates which are now higher than that seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among its recent appointments was acting as administrator on the pre-pack sale of CTD Tiles to Topps Tiles.

A spokesperson for Interpath declined to comment on Sunday.

Continue Reading

Business

Trump’s tariffs are back – here’s who is in his sights this time

Published

on

By

'A BIG DAY FOR AMERICA!!!' - Trump's tariffs are back, and will affect dozens of countries

It is “Liberation Day” III – the third tariff deadline set by Donald Trump.

Countries without bilateral trade agreements will soon face reciprocal tariffs – ranging from 25% to 50% – with a baseline of 15% to 20% for any not making a deal.

He has delayed twice, from April to July and from July to August, but hammered this date home in his trademark caps-on style: “THE AUGUST FIRST DEADLINE STANDS STRONG, AND WILL NOT BE EXTENDED. A BIG DAY FOR AMERICA!!!”

“Will not be extended” for anyone but Mexico, it seems. The country secured a 90-day extension at the last minute, with Mr Trump citing the “complexities” of the border.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Explained: The US-UK trade deal

By close of business on the eve of deadline, he had a handful of framework deals – some significant – including the UK (10%), the EU, Japan and South Korea (15%), Indonesia and the Philippines (19%), Vietnam (20%).

On the EU agreement, which he struck in Scotland, the president said: “It’s a very powerful deal, it’s a big deal, it’s the biggest of all the deals.”

But what happened to the “90 deals in 90 days” touted by the White House earlier this year?

More from US

The short answer is they were replaced by letters of instruction to pay a tariff set by the US.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

How Trump 2.0 changed the world

Amid of flurry of late activity, the US played hardball with major trading partners like Canada.

“For the rest of the world, we’re going to have things done by Friday,” said US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick – the “rest of the world” meaning everyone but China.

There is, apparently, the “framework of a deal” between the world’s two largest economies, but talks between Washington and Beijing are continuing.

Read more US news:
Top Trump officials to visit Gaza
Heavy rain and flash floods batter east coast

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Worker begs America for help

In terms of wins, he can claim some significant deals and point to his tariffs having generated an impressive $27bn (£20.4bn) in June, not bad for a single month.

But the legality of the approach is under siege – with the US Court of International Trade ruling that the “Liberation Day” tariffs exceeded the president’s authority, with enforcement paused pending appeal.

The deadline has stirred the pot, forcing a handful of deals onto the table. Whether they stick or survive legal scrutiny is far from settled.

But the playbook remains the same – threaten the world with trade chaos, whittle it down, celebrate the wins, and pray no one checks what’s legal.

Continue Reading

Business

Microsoft is now worth over $4 trn, becoming only second firm ever to pass milestone

Published

on

By

Microsoft is now worth over  trn, becoming only second firm ever to pass milestone

Microsoft has become only the second publicly traded company after Nvidia to surpass $4 trn (£3.03trn) in market valuation, after registering huge earnings.

On Thursday, shares rose on Wall Street with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq climbing to new record highs.

Stocks in Microsoft jumped after posting better-than-expected results, helped by its Azure cloud computing platform, which is a centrepiece of the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) efforts.

Shares in Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, Meta, also surged after beating sales and profit targets.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Is Trump’s AI plan a ‘tech bro’ manifesto?

Technology giants Apple and Amazon will report their results after Wall Street’s close.

Microsoft first cracked the $1trn (£760bn) mark in April 2019, but its move to $3trn (£2.27trn) took longer than technology giants Nvidia and Apple.

Nvidia tripled its value in just about a year and clinched the $4trn milestone before any other company on 9 July. Apple was last valued at $3.12trn.

More on Apple

In comparison, the biggest UK company by market value is drug manufacturer AstraZeneca, worth $235.97bn (£178.55bn).

Companies ranked by market value (USD), according to tradingview.com

1. Nvidia (US) $4.43trn
2. Microsoft (US) $4trn
3. Apple (US) $3.12trn
4. Amazon (US) $2.47trn
5. Alphabet (US) $2.35trn
6. Meta (US) $1.95trn
7. Saudi Arabian Oil (Saudi Arabia) $1.56trn
8. Broadcom (US) $1.42trn
9. Berkshire Hathaway (US) $1.03trn
10. Tesla (US) $1.02trn
11. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (Taiwan) $1trn
29. Samsung Electronics (South Korea) $338.06bn
36. Alibaba (China) $284.62bn
52. AstraZeneca (UK) $235.97bn

While sweeping US tariffs had investors worried about tighter business spending, Microsoft’s strong earnings have shown that the company’s books are yet to take a hit.

Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar bet on OpenAI is proving to be a game changer, powering its Office Suite and Azure offerings with cutting-edge AI and fueling the stock to more than double its value since ChatGPT’s late-2022 debut.

Follow The World
Follow The World

Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday

Tap to follow

Read more from Sky News:
Microsoft beats Nvidia by market value
Trump unveils AI action plan
UK ramps up AI adoption with Meta

On Wednesday, the firm announced Azure sales surpassed $75bn (£56bn) on an annual basis, while Azure revenue jumped 39% in the April-June quarter.

Overall revenue rose 18% to $76.4bn (£57.81bn) over the same period.

It is also forecasting a record $30bn (£22.7bn) in capital spending over the first quarter to meet soaring AI demand..

Continue Reading

Business

Christmas food price shock looms, chancellor warned

Published

on

By

Christmas food price shock looms, chancellor warned

Food inflation will rise to 6% by the end of the year – posing a “significant challenge” to household budgets in the run-up to Christmas, industry leaders have predicted.

The British Retail Consortium is warning that the chancellor risks “fanning the flames of inflation” if she hikes taxes in the coming budget.

Despite intense price competition between supermarket chains, the BRC has sounded the alarm over the pace of grocery price hikes.

As of this month, food inflation has risen 4% year on year – its highest level since February 2024.

The BRC said this increase is linked to global factors, such as high demand and crop struggles.

Beef, chicken and tea prices are among those that have risen the most this year – but some of the blame is being laid squarely at the chancellor’s door too.

The BRC said it was inevitable that a £7bn burden, through changes to employers’ national insurance contributions and minimum pay rules after last October’s budget, had been partly passed on to customers in the form of higher prices.

More from Money

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Will we see tax rises in next budget?

It published the results of a survey of retail industry finance chiefs to illustrate its point – that nerves about what Ms Reeves’s second budget could bring were not helping companies invest in either new employment or prices.

Business was promised it would be spared additional pain after it was put on the hook for the bulk of the chancellor’s tax-raising measures last year.

However, speculation is now rife over who will feel the pain this autumn as she juggles a deterioration in the public finances.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Options for wealth tax

A widening black hole is estimated at around £20bn.

The cost of servicing government debt has risen since the last budget, while U-turns on welfare reforms and winter fuel payment cuts have made her job even harder – making further tax-raising measures inevitable.

The survey of chief financial officers for the BRC showed the biggest current fear ahead was for the “tax and regulatory burden”.

Two-thirds of the CFOs predicted further price rises in the coming year, at a time when the headline rate inflation already remains stuck way above the Bank of England’s target of 2%.

It currently stands at 3.6%.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said: “Retail was squarely in the firing line of the last budget, with the industry hit by £7bn in new costs and taxes.

“Retailers have done everything they can to shield their customers from higher costs, but given their slim margins and the rising cost of employing staff, price rises were inevitable.

“The consequences are now being felt by households as many struggle to cope with the rising cost of their weekly shop.

“It is up to the chancellor to decide whether to fan the flames of inflation, or to support the everyday economy by backing the high street and the local jobs they provide.”

She concluded: “Retail accounts for 5% of the economy yet currently pays 7.4% of business taxes and a whopping 21% of all business rates.

“It is vital the upcoming reforms offer a meaningful reduction in retailers’ rates bill, and ensures no store pays more as a result of the changes.”

The Treasury has been approached for comment.

Continue Reading

Trending