UK

City investors who lost millions in the trading fraud at collapsed finance group Versailles plan to sue chairman and founder Carl Cushnie for the return of some Ј13 million.

The Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) has published its Annual Review and Resource Accounts 2003-04, showing that, despite another challenging year for UK exporters, it continued to provide them with valuable support in their efforts to w

Dynamic Commercial Finance PLC said it continues to unanimously recommend shareholders reject the offer by Enterprise London Ltd and not to return any form of acceptance.

The Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) has published its annual review and resource accounts 2003-04, showing that it provided UK exporters with Ј2.9bn of financial support.

The chairman of Highams Systems Services, the UK software group, said the sale of its factoring software subsidiary Highams Business Solutions (HBS) had been necessary for the company was to stave off further losses.

The Companies Annual Report (ISBN 0-11-515510-4 ) published by The Stationery Office contains facts and statistics on:

Company Law Developments

The number of insolvencies in England and Wales jumped to its highest level in almost a decade last year, according to a report published Friday.

Latest figures for banks' lending to and deposit from small businesses in the first quarter of this year show that:

Two candidates have emerged as front-runners to become the new managing partner of Hammonds with finance head Andrew Watson and head of commercial dispute resolution Peter Crossley favourites to replace veteran head Chris Jones.

The nation's small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) are outraged at a decision from the Bank of England to close its small firms domestic banking division over claims financial access is no longer a problem to business start-ups.