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The results the first since the group spun off from telecoms giant Alcatel to float last June beat analysts' forecasts to see profit rise

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The results, the first since the group spun off from telecoms giant Alcatel to float last June, beat analysts' forecasts to see profit rise to 303m euros. ALSTOM, THE Anglo-French engineering group, yesterday announced buoyant pre-tax profits and the sale of the bulk of its industrial division in a bid to focus on its high-earning transport and power transmission businesses. The car will cost between pounds 19,530 and pounds 26,630 and, although it has been voted What Car? Car of the Year it has been criticised for being too expensive.. Total investment in the new model, including new body-building, paint and final assembly lines at Cowley is pounds 700m, making it the biggest single investment since BMW bought Rover in 1994. The jobs are to be filled by workers from Rover's other UK plants, with the bulk coming from Longbridge.Rover hopes to produce around 135,000 units of the new car next year, with about 70 per cent of production exported. Output of the car, the first all-Rover model the company has developed in 25 years, is set to rise from 1,660 a week in July to 2,800 cars a week by the end of the year. The increase in jobs, will take the Cowley workforce to 2,700. ROVER IS to create an extra 800 jobs at its Cowley plant in Oxford to cope with production of its new executive saloon, the Rover 75, which goes on sale next month.

The DTI could give no date for the report's eventual publication.. The report by Sir John Thomas QC and Raymond Turner has been held up by the previous criminal trial involving Mr Maxwell. Taking into account the costs of the eight-year administration of pounds 31m, the settlement represented just a tenth of the original claim against Coopers.Separately, inspectors from the DTI are preparing their questions before interviewing Kevin Maxwell, the son of Robert Maxwell, about his role in the flotation of Mirror Group. To avoid a conflict of interest, separate administrators from Grant Thornton were brought in to handle the claim against Coopers.Privately, sources at PwC said yesterday they were pleased at the scale of the settlement. The situation was complicated 18 months ago when Coopers merged with Price Waterhouse. Yesterday's settlement means creditors can expect 58 per cent of that back.Accountants from Price Waterhouse were appointed as administrators to MCC in December1991, and lodged a claim of around pounds 300m against Coopers for negligence in its audit of the group.

The American side, MCC, had debts of over $3bn, owed mostly to banks. Four individual Coopers partners were also reprimanded in this earlier action by the Joint Disciplinary Scheme (JDS), the accountancy watchdog.Coopers were auditors to all of Robert Maxwell's companies, more than 400 worldwide, by the time the tycoon drowned, in 1991. We have sought to achieve an equitable settlement that avoids the costs and uncertainties of a long trial."The case was set to go to court in October 2000, and the trial and appeal process could have lasted up to 18 months.PwC was fined around pounds 3.5m earlier this year by an accountancy regulator for its audit of the private companies owned by Mr Maxwell. Coopers & Lybrand, now part of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), said the settlement with Maxwell Communication Corporation (MCC) includes "no admission of liability". The firm said: "This removes the last piece of Maxwell litigation from Coopers & Lybrand. BRITAIN'S BIGGEST firm of accountants agreed yesterday to pay a record pounds 67.6m to settle a professional negligence claim brought by the American side of the late Robert Maxwell's business empire. But the dividend was raised 6 per cent to 28.6p.Outlook, page 21.

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