RSM Tenon, the quoted accountant and bankruptcy specialist that had to restate its own accounts this year, has secured a reprieve from potential collapse with a refinancing.
Tenon, which has three offices in Scotland, has a new two-year £93 million facility with Lloyds Banking Group, 10% shareholder in a group that has lost 90% of its market value in the past two years and which yesterday reported a £10m increase in its debt to £78m last year.
It also reported a loss on its continuing operations for the year of £88m, after a £64m writedown of goodwill on the acquisitions used to build the group, and a £27m reverse from the previous year's £18m core operating profit to a £9m loss.
Tenon ousted chairman Bob Morton and chief executive Andy Raynor last January and weeks later announced 300 UK-wide redundancies as it unveiled an £84m loss after a £61m writedown and a £12m restatement of accounts.
The Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board launched an investigation in August into "the conduct of certain members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and of PricewaterhouseCoopers as auditors of RSM Tenon Group". The members were assumed to be RSM Tenon's in-house accountants, with PwC understood to be claiming it was misinformed.
Tenon's new chief executive, Chris Merry, told The Herald: "The inquiry is an inevitable consequence of a public company reinstating its accounts and was no surprise." He said it involved "four individuals, only one of whom remains with us".
The inquiry centres on the firm's accounts for 2009 and 2010, the prospectus for its admission to the main market of the stock exchange, and investor information about the 2009 acquisition of RSM Bentley Jennison for £76m – more than four times the group's current market value.
Speculation that Tenon might be a candidate for a "prepack" administration rather than refinancing, and a relaunch as a partnership, was fuelled by the company's newly adopted practice of calling its directors 'partners'. But Mr Merry said the change had helped clients to understand the seniority of the people they were dealing with.
He was unable to give any details of the firm's performance or headcount in Scotland, but said : "Our Scottish offices are an important part of the business."
The group reported that its underlying business was "resilient in a challenging market" in the year to June 30, and highlighted its board and management changes, cost reductions, non-core disposals, and the creation of a "strong operating framework for the future".
Revenue was down by 8.8% to £208m, and the underlying operating loss was £8.9m, against the previous year's £18.5m profit.
Annual cost savings are estimated at £20m compared to an initial £14m estimate.
Relieved investors drove the shares up 0.96p to 6.44p yesterday.
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