FEES NOW HIT €1.9m FOR CUSTOM HOUSE CAPITAL CLEAN-UP - Fees of €1.9m have been paid so far to the liquidator of Custom House Capital, and the process to clean up the collapsed broker has another two years to run, according to an official Liquidators Account filed to the Companies Office.
The total costs of managing the liquidation stood at €4.3m at April 20, according to the papers filed last week. Kieran Wallace, an accountant at KPMG, whose other high-profile insolvency work includes as joint special liquidator of the former Anglo Irish Bank, has been winding up Custom House Capital since 2011. The company was liquidated after a High Court-appointed investigation by two Central Bank inspectors found "systemic and deliberate misuse" of €66m of clients' money, says the Irish Independent. Liquidator's fees of €1.9m are the biggest single cost of the liquidation, the new filing shows, followed by legal fees of €1.228m. VAT on costs - at slightly under €600,000 - is another significant cost. Costs to date have been covered from €5.57m of funds in the business, but the latest filing shows that the pot had dropped to €1.27m at April 20 last. The liquidation that began in 2011 is expected to run for two more years, taking it to mid-2020. That is longer than had previously been estimated and reflects the time needed to reconcile and transfer client assets, the filing states.
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COMMUNICATIONS WATCHDOG NEEDS 70 EXTRA STAFF, MINISTER TOLD - The communications regulator is seriously understaffed with an additional 70 employees needed to help it carry out its duties, Minister for Communications Denis Naughten has been warned.
The Minister has also been told that ComReg needs to be given additional powers to allow it to regulate the market effectively. In a letter sent to Mr Naughten late in June, Alto, an umbrella group that includes all the leading Irish telecom operators bar Eir, called for steps to be taken to bolster resources at the regulator. The letter comes amid concerns that two of ComReg’s three sitting commissioners are leaving shortly, and as incumbent Eir introduces a series of cost-cutting measures following its recent takeover. Telecom operators, which pay a government levy of about €130 million a year, are alarmed at the lack of resources at the regulator. "Staffing levels at ComReg have remained effectively unchanged since 2003. We suggest that about 70 additional staff are now required to help ComReg support inter alia the National Broadband Plan (NBP), wholesale compliance activities, radio spectrum compliance and legal affairs," Alto chairman Ronan Lupton states in his letter to Mr Naughten. "This issue is costing the State and the market in terms of effectiveness and efficiently as well as unnecessary legal expense," he adds.
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15 JOBS ANNOUNCED FOR DUBLIN AT TECHNOLOGY START-UP TENDERSCOUT - 15 jobs will be created over two years at technology start-up TenderScout. A €1m investment, including a €300,000 backing from Enterprise Ireland, is part of the Dublin-based tech company's planned expansion.
TenderScout is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform that provides end-to-end support to businesses competing for Government tender opportunities all over the world. It is hiring for technology, customer service, and sales and marketing roles and plans to further expand across Europe and the US next year, says the Irish Examiner. Founder Tony Corrigan explained the company's ethos: "Essentially, we simplify Government contracting opportunities for small and medium businesses, saving them time trawling through tender alert lists and figuring out their likelihood of winning the contract." The core problem TenderScout solves, according to Mr Corrigan, is that globally SMEs are missing out on revenues from the public procurement market worth $13 trillion. "Around 90% of SMEs don’t participate at all in public tendering because they lack the expertise to compete and decide it’s too hard or time-consuming and generally inaccessible to small business", he said. The Irish company gives SMEs the ability to participate in public tenders, regardless of their scale or tendering expertise.
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HAMMERSON POISED TO UNVEIL SELL-OFF - The troubled shopping centre landlord Hammerson is expected to announce a programme of asset sales this week as it seeks to appease angry shareholders after a failed attempt to buy its largest rival.
Hammerson is due to unveil a new strategic plan on Tuesday as it also faces the intervention of activist hedge fund Elliott Management, which has used derivatives to acquire an interest in the group of more than 5%. The FTSE 250 company and its chief executive, David Atkins, face pressure to sell assets in order to return value to shareholders and prove the book valuations of its portfolio, with its shares trading at a steep discount, writes the Financial Times. Two years ago Elliott’s intervention prompted the departure of the chief executive at the UK investment company Alliance Trust and secured an overhaul of the way the 130-year-old trust was run. Hammerson has been in talks to sell a stake in the Highcross shopping centre in Leicester and has said it is looking at disposals more broadly as part of its "options to accelerate the delivery of value for shareholders". It is also reconsidering plans for big capital expenditure, such as an extension to the Brent Cross shopping centre and an upgrade of the Whitgift Centre in Croydon, both co-owned with other investors. Hammerson could cancel those works or sell its share.
