Most capital investment programmes in the UK claim cost savings in the planning stage but turn into cost overruns during construction, creating the risk of under-delivery. This was the statement of Stuart Westgate, risk consulting director at KPMG, in his comments on the government’s announcement to reduce cost in UK infrastructure projects by 2015. Westgate [...]
China’s VAT regime is experiencing a reawakening of interest recently with the launching of the Shanghai VAT Pilot in January 2012 and other important regulatory changes. These activities have raised the level of awareness and making companies rethink how they view VAT in China. There are also indications that the VAT Pilot may soon expand [...]
Hedge funds significantly outperformed traditional asset classes such as equities, bonds and commodities over the last 17 years according to a new study by The Centre for Hedge Fund Research at Imperial College in London. The research, commissioned by KPMG, the international audit, tax and advisory firm, and the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), the [...]
Alan Downey, partner and head of KPMG’s public sector practice, comments on calls from Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, for Government departments to set aside an additional 5 percent of their budget to help meet austerity measures. He says: “One of the puzzling aspects of the financial crisis is why it took so [...]
A more favorable deal making environment is not yet convincing large corporates to engage in M&A, according to Ernst & Young’s latest Capital Confidence Barometer, based on a survey last month of more than 1,500 senior executives in 50 countries around the world. Only 31% of those surveyed said they expected to pursue an acquisition [...]
Ernst & Young downgraded its prediction for Irish economic growth in their quarterly Eurozone Economic Forecast (EEF) launched in Frankfurt. An earlier prediction of GDP growth of 0.5% was revised downwards to 0.1% in 2012 due to continuing weak domestic demand and uncertainty in the Eurozone. Ireland has been the most successful of the five [...]
After a shaky start to 2012, pub and restaurant groups saw a modest bounce-back in food and drink sales during March. Collective like-for-like sales were up 1.9% on the same month last year, following negative figures for both January and February. Total sales in March, which include the effect of new openings, were ahead 6.3% [...]
Financial performance among the top 20 U.S. aerospace and defense (A&D) firms remained sluggish in 2011 as they posted a nominal 2 percent increase in revenues and a 3.2 percent increase in operating profit over 2010, according to a new Deloitte report. Despite mergers in the defense and aerospace industry fueled by recession, the margins [...]
2012 looks poised to be a year for renewed global activity in the Transport & Logistics sector, according to an analysis by advisory firm KPMG. After a year of subdued activity in 2011, the first quarter of 2012 saw a big increase in the value of deals announced, with a global value of 19.7 billion [...]
Private equity-backed IPOs represented well over 1/3 of total IPO value globally with US$6.1b out of US$16.4b and 36 deals out of 181 IPOs. Compared to Q4’11, PE-backed deals increased by 33% in number of deals and rise by 40% in capital raised. Compared to Q1’11, PE-backed deals increased by 80% in volume of deals [...]
Against a backdrop of evidence suggesting that business performance will suffer because organisations are failing to manage their customers’ data, Eddie Short, partner and head of business intelligence, argues that companies are spending too long looking at the past, in the hope it gives an insight into their future. KPMG’s 2012 Business Leaders Survey reveals [...]
Global mobile payment transactions are expected to grow 97 percent per year, over the next 3 years, reaching a value of £591 billion by 2015. According to a report by KPMG, the growth will be fuelled by consumer demand for devices with ‘near field technology’ – tablets and smart-phones able to interact with scanners at [...]
Rapid-growth markets (RGMs) around the world are proving resilient amid uncertainties and subdued trade flows in the global economy. RGMs are expected to grow collectively at 5.3% this year, bouncing back to 6.3 % in 2013, according to Ernst & Young’s quarterly Rapid Growth Markets Forecast (RGMF). Despite the decline in financial wealth in H2 [...]
Despite negative currency effects and the continuing economic weakness which affected all export-driven industries, 2011 was a surprisingly good year for the Swiss biotech industry. The volume of investment in private and listed Swiss biotech companies increased sharply compared with the previous year, suggesting positive signs. The Steering Committee, consisting of representatives of various public [...]
The vast majority (95%) of manufacturing executives across Europe and the Middle East say that maintaining a sound balance sheet and improving cash & working capital management are currently top priorities for their business, according to KPMG’s third Business Leaders Survey. Stephen Cooper, UK head of diversified industrials at KPMG, said: “The global financial crisis [...]
Britain’s manufacturing industry has taken higher steps despite talks of double-dip as KPMG’s Markit/CIPS Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 52.1 in March from an upwardly revised 51.5 in February – hitting the highest level since May 2011. Glynn Bellamy, UK Head of Aerospace and Defence at KPMG, said: “It would seem that British [...]
The world’s CEOs, CFOs and other senior management accountants have a cautious, yet increasingly positive outlook for the global economy over the next 12 months, according to the first CGMA Global Economic Forecast released today by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). The quarterly forecast polled 600 management [...]
Global IPO activity has fallen sharply in Q1 2012, according to Ernst & Young’s Global IPO update. So far this quarter, a total of 157 deals has raised only US$14.3b, down by 69% by capital raised (US$46.6b in 296 deals), compared to the same period last year. This is the lowest quarter on record since [...]
In the fourth quarter of 2011, Swiss M&A market activity remained strong, showing a significant rise in disclosed deal volume compared to the previous quarter on a slightly lower number of transactions, contributing to a solid performance of the Swiss M&A market environment for the full year 2011. National governments in Europe need to do [...]
After two quarters of sharp declines, CFO optimism turned solidly positive in the first quarter of 2012, according to the most recent Deloitte CFO Signals survey. Moreover, CFOs’ outlooks toward earnings, capital investment and even hiring – have improved. Only one sticking point remains – sales. The quarterly survey, which tracks the thinking and actions [...]
