Richard Branson has said he is ‘devastated’ that Virgin Trains’ reign over the West Coast Main Line train route is coming to an end after 22 years. The Department for Transport has awarded Aberdeen-based FirstGroup (FGP) and Trenitalia UK, an arm of Italy’s main train operator, the contract to run the London-to-Glasgow rail line from 8 December. After the contract starts, more than 60% of train journeys made on British railway lines will be made using services partly owned by foreign companies, analysis has revealed. The DfT barred Virgin from bidding to keep hold of the West Coast Main Line route in April amid an ongoing pensions row. The dispute, which also led to Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to award the East Midlands Railway to rival operator Abellio, prompted billionaire Branson to warn that Virgin Trains could ‘disappear’. Stagecoach Group (SGC), which owns 49% of Virgin Trains, had disagreed with the government about how to fill a huge deficit in the Railways Pension Scheme, which covers railway workers. The Pensions Regulator wanted railway companies to accept that they would need to pay more cash into the scheme in the future, but they refused and demanded the Government pay more instead.
Grant Thornton has quit as Sports Direct’s auditors, a day after the delayed publication of the retailer’s annual results. In July, delayed publishing its preliminary results until after markets closed, and then revealed it was being chased by Belgian authorities for £605million in unpaid taxes and regretted buying House of Fraser last year. In its results on Tuesday, Sports Direct said Grant Thornton had agreed to stay put in its role as the retailer’s auditor. Sports Direct now has to find a replacement auditor, which may not be entirely straightforward. In its results, the retailer, owned by billionaire Newcastle football club owner Mike Ashley, admitted that the Big Four accountancy firms, namely Deloitte, PwC, KPMG and EY, had claimed to be conflicted from carrying out auditing duties at the retailer. It said PWC had a ‘reluctance to engage due to its ownership structure’, while KPMG, EY and Deloitte said they would have conflicts due to other clients. Sports Direct has asked the Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for clarity on the powers of the secretary of state to appoint an auditor for a public-listed company, according to the Financial Times. It is understood that the accounting watchdog, the Financial Reporting Council, is also in conversations with Sports Direct.