Daily Mail, Friday, August 23, 2019
Burford chief
swapped sex
tape for secret
file, court told
by Tom WitherowBetting boss
spends £5m
to shore up
confidence
GVC’s boss has splashed
out £5m on shares to dem-
onstrate his confidence in
the business.
Kenny Alexander and his
chairman at the Ladbro-
kes and Coral owner, Lee
Feldman, sparked fury from
City investors when they
sold a combined £20m of
shares earlier this year –
causing the stock to plunge
by a fifth due to fears the
pair were losing faith.
Now Alexander has said
his share purchase demon-
strates a conviction that
GVC is stay successful.
The 50-year-old, who has
been the boss of the Isle of
Man-based bookie since
2007, said: ‘I remain totally
committed to GVC for the
long-term.’
Alexander sold £13.7m of
stock in March as part of
his personal wealth man-
agement plans.
But he later said he would
not have sold the shares if
he had known the furore
that would follow.
GVC has come under
pressure from investors
and regulators over the
vast sums Alexander has
made from the betting
industry. He was accused of
running away from share-
holders’ opposition to his
£19.1m pay packet by hold-
ing this year’s annual com-
pany meeting in Gibraltar.
LAURA Ashley has plunged into the red
following a slump in demand for its
furniture and decorating products.
The retailer, which is known for its
floral prints and chintzy furniture,
posted a £14m loss for the year to
June 30 – down from a £100,000 profit
for the previous 12 months. The losses
are more than the £13.6m value of
the entire firm.
Laura Ashley blamed poor sales of
its homeware range and high IT costs
for the losses.
Dwindling demand for its sofas,
lighting and wallpaper resulted in a3.5pc fall in sales at stores open more
than a year, while total revenues
slipped 9.6pc to £232.5m. Online sales
dropped 14pc to £51.2m.
Nick Bubb, an independent retail
analyst, called the results ‘terrible’.
However, Laura Ashley’s fashion
division offered a glimmer of hope,
as same-store sales jumped 9.2pc
compared with a year ago.
The business is majority owned by
Malaysian Khoo family. Andrew Khoo,
who heads up the business as chair-
man, said: ‘We believe that we are on
an appropriate recovery path.’A SENIOR executive at
embattled Burford Capital
traded a sex tape for confi-
dential documents, it has
been claimed.
Daniel Hall, corporate intelli-
gence director at the legal
finance firm, is alleged to have
handed over ‘video material of a
sexual nature’ relating to Amer-
ican shipping magnate Harry
Sargeant III.
He was given the secret files in
return, according to a lawsuit
filed with the High Court in
London. Hall had allegedly been
hired by a rival shipping firm to
investigate Sargeant’s assets.
Sergeant, a 61-year-old former
fighter pilot, claims in a sepa-
rate US legal case launched last
year that ‘private consensual
relations’ which are ‘extremely
sensitive’ had been hacked from
his email account.
Burford is already fighting off
claims from hedge fund Muddy
Waters that it has used question-
able accounting practices to hide
poor financial performance.
The latest claims were made
as part of a High Court caseinvolving Sargeant, Venezuelan
business magnate Wilmer
Ruperti and Russian shipping
group Novoship.
Ruperti wants up to £74m
from Novoship for allegedly
breaching a settlement. Novo-
ship in turn says if it loses the
case, Burford will be liable for
the sum. This is because Novo-
ship claims it gave Burford
access to confidential docu-
ments which were then mis-
used. Burford said all the claims
in the case were meritless.
Burford’s shares slumped ear-
lier this month following an
attack from Muddy Waters.
It accused Burford of account-
ing tricks similar to those used
by trading firm Enron before it
went bust in 2001, and claimed
Burford – which denies the
claims – is ‘arguably insolvent’.
Shares have fallen from 1669p
on July 24 to 808p today.
Lawyers for Novoship and
Ruperti declined to comment. A
spokesman for Sargeant
declined to comment when
approached by journalists.LAURA ASHLEY SLUMPS TO
£14m LOSS AS SALES FLOP
W
ESTERN businesses
are in a highly compro-
mised position over the
anti-government pro-
tests in Hong Kong.
Two UK-listed banks, HSBC and
Standard Chartered, issued advertise-
ments in local papers calling for a
peaceful resolution, which were widely
seen as attempts to appease the Chi-
nese government.
HSBC has a long history in Hong Kong,
which accounts for a large chunk of its prof-
its, and hopes to expand in China.
There is speculation that its former chief
executive John Flint was forced out at the
behest of the Chinese government, despite
his shameless sucking up to the regime.
Before he was kicked out, Flint opined
that the Chinese economic system ‘gives
Western liberal democracies pause for
thought, because here is a deeply socialist
system that’s served its people really well’.
It is not clear whether he was defenes-
trated at the behest of China or whether he
really had just proved a disappointment to
the new chairman, as the bank claimed.
But there has been at least one British
executive casualty. Rupert Hogg left his
post at Cathay Pacific in a swirl of unsub-
stantiated rumour he had resigned rather
than hand over the names of protesters
among his crew and pilots.
Good for him if it’s true. The idea of a
company informing on its own staff for their
political views is profoundly disturbing.
The atmosphere inside Cathay Pacific
sounds poisonous and terrifying, with
employees saying they barely dare speak to
their colleagues for fear of being denounced
to the Chinese authorities.
Companies and their leaders like to put
up a facade of neutrality but it’s impossible
for them to be apolitical. Their decisions
over where to do business are always politi-
cal, and they are made on the basis of profit,
not principle.
Barclays’ move to pull out of apartheid
South Africa in 1986, for example, was down
to realpolitik not morality. Its share in theUK student market had fallen from 27pc to
15pc as it was the subject of a boycott in
many universities, and that was judged to
outweigh the South African income.
The bank could probably by that stage
also scent the way the wind was blowing in
Nelson Mandela’s journey from Robben
Island to the presidency, and did not want
to remain on the wrong side of history.
Standard Chartered and HSBC have
shown they have few scruples when dealing
with controversial regimes. Both have been
heavily fined in the US for busting sanc-
tions and doing business with Iran and
other rogue states. HSBC was also found to
have allowed itself to be used as the laundry
for a torrent of Mexican drug money.
When it comes to protesting, bank bosses
are not averse to some anti-government
agitation of their own when it suits them.
In 2015 HSBC threatened to move its
headquarters out of the UK because it didn’t
like the banking levy and was also miffed at
the then government’s insistence it ring-
fence its retail bank to safeguard the British
taxpayer from casino finance. In the event,
it stayed put – wisely so, as it turns out.
The rise of China is throwing up many dif-
ficult questions for Western governments
and companies. John Flint is right that lib-
eral democracies are under pressure. They
have been since the financial crisis of 2008,
which banks like HSBC did so much to cre-ate. He is wrong, though, to suggest that
authoritarian socialism has the answers.
The world has yet to find a superior sys-
tem to capitalism. Long-term prosperity
depends on democracy, property rights,
freedom of speech and freedom of choice.
Bankers, of all people, ought to know it.Another Ashley
POOR old Laura Ashley. Its leg-of-mutton
sleeved frocks and flowery fabrics were once
the height of middle-class hippy chic, but
that was then. This is now, and the brand
has not been a style leader for 40 years.
Its Malaysian owners say fashion sales are
growing, thanks to improved designs. Home
furnishings, where it faces competition from
everyone from John Lewis to Ikea, have
been a disappointment.
The latest big idea is Laura Ashley hotels,
where customers can ‘live the interior
design dream’ and while away the afternoon
in a chintzy Laura Ashley tearoom nibbling
on crustless sandwiches and macarons.
But there’s no getting away from that
share price, which has tanked more than
90pc in five years. What next? Mike Ashley
has a voracious appetite for distressed
retailers. He’s a bit busy trying to find an
audit firm prepared to check the books for
him at Sports Direct, but maybe he could
find time to make an offer. He wouldn’t even
need to change the name much.Feeling heat in Hong Kong
More woe at Ted Baker
STRUGGLING Ted Baker
has lost its finance boss
after he was poached by
rival luxury store Mulberry.
Charles Anderson had
spent 17 years at the
clothing chain, during
which time he was also
company secretary.
His departure comes at a
difficult time for Ted Baker,
which is reeling following a
string of allegations made
against its founder Ray Kel-
vin. He was forced to quit
earlier this year amid claims
that he massaged, kissed
and inappropriately hugged
members of staff.
Analysts at Peel Hunt
said: ‘The loss of key per-
sonnel at this time is not
helpful, but perhaps indica-
tive of the continued chal-
lenges Ted Baker will face
into 2020.’SHELL is buying Australian
electricity supplier ERM
Power for £343m.
It is part of the energy
group’s ambition to
become the world’s larg-
est power provider.
ERM is one of the biggest
firms in the Australian mar-
ket, and generates energy
from two gas-fired power
plants in Queensland andWestern Australia. Shell
wants to make more money
from gas and renewable
technology, with oil
expected to become less
profitable in the coming
years as the world moves
towards greener fuel.
The deal should complete
by the end of the year, but
Shell still needs approval
from ERM’s shareholders.THE pound has enjoyed its
best day since March, in a
welcome boost for holiday-
makers going abroad at the
last minute.
Sterling rallied 1.1pc
against the dollar, to $1.226,
and 1.1pc against the euro
to €1.106, following signs
from European politicians
that they were prepared to
cooperate on Brexit. Ger-
man Chancellor Angela Mer-kel said a solution could be
found to the so-called back-
stop problem, which centres
on the Irish border, and
France’s President Macron
signalled there could be
room for manoeuvre.
Aashna Shroff, of personal
finance website Money.co.
uk, said: ‘Compared to just
over a week ago, £500 will
now put an extra €15 or $12
in your pocket.’Shell goes Down Under Brexit hopes lift pound
Ruth
Sunderland
BUSINESS EDITORPage 771953 Laura Ashley founded
in London by Bernard Ashley
and his wife Laura£10 their initial investment
- on wood for a screen,
dyes and some linen
1985 Laura Ashley floats on
stock market, two months after
death of co-founder Laura61pcstake now held by
Malaysian Khoo family155 stores across the UK,
with a further 80 worldwide68pcslump in share
price over the past yearRELEASED BY "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS V1 TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws