Latest news with #financialsituation
BBC News
3 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
BBC investigates takeover turmoil behind Morecambe suspension
The National League has announced that Morecambe have been suspended until 20 August due to their perilous financial league has "serious concerns" surrounding the Lancashire club's compliance with its rules and last week warned there would be "possible further sanctions" if terms were not the Shrimps' first three fixtures - against Boston, Brackley and Scunthorpe - have been postponed. If they are unable to provide proof they will be able to complete the whole season by the time the league's compliance and licensing committee meet again next month, they face expulsion."It was decided further sanctions must be imposed, with the club's membership to be suspended with immediate effect," the National League said in a statement on Monday."The committee will meet again on Wednesday, 20 August to determine if outstanding items have been satisfied, and to decide the club's ability to retain membership in the competition."Morecambe have had a chaotic summer since being relegated from League Two, with a deal yet to take place despite two parties having takeover bids accepted, while the board of directors 105-year-old club's current owner Jason Whittingham has missed several self-set deadlines to sell, and has been unable to convince the league's board that the team has the financial means to complete the season, which would be its first outside the Football League since 2007. Does Morecambe's suspension come as a surprise? Current majority shareholders Bond Group, led by businessman Whittingham, purchased Morecambe in May 2018. By September 2022, Whittingham had put the club up for club has since been relegated twice, and no takeover has been completed in that has been a director at 25 companies during his career, according to Companies House. Of those 25 companies, 18 have been either dissolved, voluntarily dissolved, put into administration, put into liquidation, or put into receiver action (the precursor stage to liquidation).Two of Whittingham's companies had been dissolved by compulsory strike-off prior to his takeover of Morecambe - but he still passed the EFL's owners' and directors' 21 of the companies, Whittingham was joint director with business partner Colin Goldring - a legal worker turned entrepreneur - including at Morecambe until Goldring's resignation in August and Goldring were disqualified as company directors for 12 months following a court hearing in 2022. Goldring has also been barred by the Solicitors Regulation Authority from working for any law firm without pair also ran Worcester Warriors rugby club, which went into liquidation in 2022. What has happened with the latest Morecambe takeover bid? Whittingham says he has been trying to sell the club to a consortium led by Jonny Cato, but said over the weekend that Cato has been put off completing a deal "by continual negative press statements impacting on the club".Since Whittingham named Cato as a bidder 10 days ago, Cato has not been seen or heard publicly. In fact, there is no businessman with the name Jonny Cato listed on Companies House, and the only person on professional networking website LinkedIn with the name Jonny Cato is a Swedish BBC contacted a man with a slightly different spelling of the name, the only such person with a credible business background in the UK, and were informed he has nothing to do with a potential bid for the who is Cato? Why does he have no business footprint in the UK? Does he exist?Whittingham has not responded to requests for interview from the BBC. What is behind Panjab Warriors' Morecambe bid? Whittingham also says fellow bidder Panjab Warriors, who announced they had agreed a deal to take over the club earlier this summer, have gone quiet and are refusing BBC understands Panjab Warriors were so convinced their takeover deal would imminently be confirmed that they lined up a replacement who had agreed to take over from current manager Derek Warriors threatened legal action over their takeover not being completed and said they have already invested millions of pounds into the club to keep it Monday, lawyers representing Morecambe's minority shareholders announced they had not been able to contact any representative from Panjab Warriors for a week, rendering their attempt to force a sale through their website Panjab Warriors state they "invest in sporting excellence" and "execute deals that drive value". But the group does not list any specific investments, and no information about other investments is listed origin of the group's money is also unclear. At least 75% of Panjab Warriors' shares are owned by a company called JKM Capital, which is majority-owned by businessman Kuljeet Singh show he has been involved in 15 companies during his career, the vast majority of which have been established since 2023, but none appear to have made notable latest accounts describe it as a "dormant" company and list its current cash in hand as £100. Several of Singh Momi's businesses note the involvement of Sarbjot Johal, a young entrepreneur who was heavily linked with a takeover of the club in bid - and youth - earned him plenty of press coverage, but no takeover was ever completed after the extent of his wealth was thrown into exact nature of Singh Momi and Johal's business relationship is not clear, but Singh Momi released a statement last year saying he has cut ties with Warriors have not responded to repeated attempts at contact by the BBC. What does the future hold for Morecambe? Morecambe's staff and players were paid only a third of their wages in June. Any payments for July have not yet been publicly club has a squad of just 10 senior players and has cancelled pre-season friendlies. If and when a sale will be completed - and whether whoever the eventual buyers are represent the financial salvation the club desperately needs - remains to be unless a sale is somehow pushed through before the 20 August deadline, the potential of expulsion - or the club ultimately folding - cannot be ruled out.
CBS News
23-07-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Pittsburgh controller describes the city's financial situation as "precarious"
Pittsburgh City Controller Rachael Heisler's annual fiscal report found the city is spending more money than it's taking in. Heisler describes the city's financial situation as "precarious." The city is spending more money than it's taking in while failing to maintain its deteriorating fleet, adequately staff its public safety forces or even turn on most of the water fountains in the summer months. "We need to make sure that the city is handling its basic functions: keeping people safe and keeping things clean," Heisler said. Releasing her annual fiscal report on Wednesday, the controller says the city is not yet in a crisis, but will be unless steps are taken to rein in non-essential spending and raise new revenue. She says the city has spent $24 million more this year than last, and at mid-year has depleted 77 percent of its overtime budget, projecting it will outspend that budget by $20 million. "This is a significant increase and unsustainable," Heisler said. The city denies it is close to crisis but concedes overtime is a "long-term challenge." Still, in a statement, Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak said union negotiations and unexpected increases in wage and real estate revenues may offset those increases. "While we believe that reforms to overtime usage will ultimately play a role in solving this problem, it's clear that process is taking longer than we projected to show the anticipated results," Pawlak said. "That being said, the scale of this issue is manageable, offset by savings elsewhere in the budget and does not give us cause for alarm." Heisler said the city must move aggressively to encourage job growth and negotiate a deal with the non-profit hospitals and universities for payments in lieu of taxes — something, she says, the Gainey administration has not achieved, which has filed challenges against tax-exempt properties. "When you're in active litigation against them, you're not going to hit a point where you're engaging in conversation about voluntary payments toward city operations," Heisler said.
Reuters
08-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
NY Fed survey finds deteriorating views on household financial situation
NEW YORK, May 8 (Reuters) - Americans' views on their current and future financial situations, as well as their expectations for future earnings and income, soured in April, amid mixed views on the outlook for inflation, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said on Thursday. In its latest Survey of Consumer Expectations, the bank found that last month, as President Donald Trump initiated a dramatic trade war against the rest of the world, households' perceptions of their current and future financial situations 'deteriorated sharply.' Survey respondents also projected slower gains in income and earnings in April relative to March, and for unemployment to rise and for it to be harder to find a job. Spending expectations, however, rose in April versus March. On the inflation front, it was a mixed bag. Survey respondents projected year-ahead inflation at 3.6%, unchanged from March, while the three-year-ahead expectation rose to the highest level since July 2022 at 3.2%, from March's 3%. Five years from now, survey respondents see inflation at 2.7% versus March's 2.9%. The report found the public expecting accelerating price pressures for rent, gasoline and college costs, as well as a projected year-ahead rise in home prices of 3.3%, from March's 3%. The release of the New York Fed report comes after the Fed decided on Wednesday to hold its short-term interest rate target steady amid a time of high uncertainty and rising economic risks. While the Fed views the current state of the economy as solid, the trade tariff regime now being pursued by the Trump administration has unsettled the outlook, with many economists expecting it to lead to higher inflation and unemployment, while slowing growth from where it otherwise would have been. "Despite heightened uncertainty, the economy is still in a solid position,' Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a press conference following the Fed policy gathering. But he also acknowledged that while the economy is 'healthy,' it is one that's 'shrouded in some very downbeat sentiment on the part of people and businesses.' Powell also offered a note of caution on data detailing consumer mood, saying 'the link between sentiment data and consumer spending has been weak.' The state of inflation expectations data has loomed large in Fed calculations because officials broadly agree that where the public projects price pressures to go has a strong impact on where they are now. New York Fed data has not shown the same rise in inflation expectations evidenced by other surveys like those from the University of Michigan. Over recent weeks numerous Fed officials have said it's critical to keep expectations stable amid the current period of uncertainty and inflation risks driven by Trump's policy agenda.
