Wednesday July 1, 09:17 AM
UPDATE 1-Cattles culls board as debt talks drag on
LONDON, July 1 (Reuters) - Cattles Plc said it sacked its finance director and five other senior executives following an independent audit into systemic accounting errors at the troubled British subprime lender.
The six were suspended in March after what the firm called a 'breakdown in internal controls' that meant it failed to set aside enough funds to cover bad loans, saddling it with an 850 million pound ($1.40 billion) hole in its accounts.
The firm's shares were suspended in April, when debt refinancing talks delayed the publication of its 2008 results.
It said on Wednesday that Chief Executive David Postings was also leaving the company, and that the board's focus 'continues to be on working closely with its debt providers to secure their support.'
Meanwhile the employment of already suspended Finance Director James Corr, Chief Operating Officer Ian Cummine, and four senior executives at its direct distribution car retailer Welcome Financial Services was terminated without compensation.
A number of other employees would face disciplinary action.
Margaret Young, chair of the audit committee, was taking over as executive chairman, while Robert East would join the board as chief restructuring officer and lead discussions with banks and bondholders, it said.
Cattles (LSE: CTT.L - news) , which lends at high interest rates to people who cannot get credit from mainstream banks, said in April said it would cut more than 100 jobs and intended to close Welcome to preserve cash and improve liquidity, and announced it was looking for new management in May.
(Reporting by Catherine Bosley; Editing by John Stonestreet) ($1=.6083 Pound) Keywords: CATTLES BOARD/
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