Electric car-charging firm boss admits company broke law a week after receiving £55m from taxpayers
THE boss of an electric car-charging firm that last week received £55million from taxpayers has admitted it broke the law by deliberately not filing its accounts.
Connected Kerb delayed filing to avoid having to include a warning about its finances.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves last week toasted it getting backing by Labour’s new National Wealth Fund.
Connected Kerb is meant to boost the roll-out of charging points across the UK for drivers who do not have driveway chargers.
But the firm has broken the law by failing to file its accounts with Companies House on time.
Its accounts for the year to end of December 2023 are still overdue.
Chief exec Chris Pateman-Jones astonishingly confessed live on air yesterday that the board had delayed filing to avoid having to include a “material uncertainty” statement.
This warning is when firms have to admit they are not confident they have enough funding to continue as a going concern over the next year.
Mr Pateman-Jones told Times Radio it “was a decision that we took as a board to try and put a set of accounts in without material uncertainty around funding”.
But Dan Neidle at Tax Policy Associates told The Sun: “You can’t delay your accounts because you don’t like what the accounts say.
“The law doesn’t give you that option.”
Ikea gold rush
IN fresh signs of the job market weakening, 3,700 people applied for 150 IKEA jobs in just six days.
The furniture company said it was an “extraordinary response” to its drive for the Oxford Street store in London.
Surveys indicate the market is tightening as companies cut back hiring after the Budget.
Homes record
HOUSE prices reached a record average high in January of £299,138, a 0.7 per cent month-on-month rise.
Halifax’s figures come after prices fell unexpectedly in December.
Experts believe the market will be boosted further by falling mortgage rates, and the rush to complete deals before April’s stamp duty rise.
GOOD WEEK: GSK boss Dame Emma Walmsley, who unveiled a sales target upgrade and £2billion buyback for the first time in a decade.
BAD WEEK: DAN Evans, CEO of tool firm Speedy Hire, as shares fell by over a quarter to a new low after a profit warning.