Financial Reporting Council – extension of Carillion related investigations
- 2019-02-26 00:59:59
UK 09:44 Wednesday, 23 September 2026
Breaking news and expert analysis on fast-moving AIM and LSE listed shares
Early each year, we note the top shorted London-listed shares as at the start of the year. How did 2018's perform?...
It is individuals that commit financial crime not corporates. And thus, as I have noted so many times before, the only way that we will clean up financial markets in the UK is by starting to throw the book at individuals who sin, making sure that all transgressions, however small, go punished. And that brings us to today's news that the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has started an investigation into the conduct of Mr Richard Adam and Mr Zafar Khan, former Group Finance Directors of Carillion (CLLN) and members of the ICAEW.
The only UK financial watchdog that is anything other than a poodle has again bared its teeth and again it is the auditors at KPMG that are in the firing line, this time over Carillion (CLLN). Still being investigatred over its role in the Quindell fraud, let off the hook on HBOS, KPMG at least knows how the Financial Reporting Council works.
A note popped into my inbox with regard to the demise of Carillion. At first glance, it seems we’ve all been here before – way back in 1990 (when even Tom Winnifrith was a young man). For Carillion today, read Coloroll then.
So Carillion (CLLN) has gone tits up. You do rather feel for its 19,500 employees but as folks work out what happens next there is an orgy of recriminations. What lessons do you learn?
Time is rapidly running out both for support services group Carillion (CLLN), and for those not short the stock.
We review the performance of the top shorted London-listed shares as at the start of each year. For 2017 that review is HERE and, from the FCA's spreadsheet of short positions required to be disclosed to it, we now have the ten top shorted London-listed shares at the start of 2018...
The real problem that Carillion (CLLN) has its its balance sheet. It clearly needs a debt for equity swap and placing which will see shareholders diluted to buggery. This remains a slam dunk short. But it never rains but it pours. It seems that Carillion may have misled investors.
Early each year, we note the top shorted London-listed shares as at the start of the year. How did 2017's perform?
Carillion (CLLN) topped the top shorted London-listed shares at the start of 2017 (recent performance update HERE) and remained so in our Autumn update HERE. Having commenced the year above 235p, the shares had slid below 200p before a July profit warning, business review and Chief Executive “stepped down” announcement. They are currently down from above 40p to below 30p today on the back of an “Update” announcement…
