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Bond-style scandal holding a harsh lesson for investors
There's nothing like a good scandal and the Langbar case at the High Court has all the hallmarks of being a cracker.
Some 365m has disappeared into thin air and it is the unfortunate duty of Mr Justice Blackburne to discover who nicked it or whether it actually existed in the first place.
You have to feel sorry for his Lordship who now has a week to read up on the case. According to our sources a row of seats in the public gallery has been removed to make room for the defence's files and the prosecution files are taking up the other side of the court.
The case is an incredibly complex and confusing one. Reading through it you start to wonder if it's a real case or the latest James Bond script – the only thing missing is the scantily clad girls and I suspect they might be in there somewhere.
The cast flits from the shores of Lake Lugano in Switzerland to Sao Paulo via Buenos Aires, Barcelona and Monaco.
Langbar was registered in Bermuda, backed by Israeli money, traded in Argentina, banked its money in Brazil, had its accounts audited in Spain and was listed on the London stock market.
But Yorkshire is right at the heart of the story.
When former chief executive Stuart Pearson was drafted in to take over the original company Crown Corporation he changed the company's name to Langbar, a small village near Ilkley.
It's a sorry tale but when investors piled into Langbar thinking they could make a killing maybe they should have remembered the old adage – if something looks too good to be true, it probably is.
Having spent a good part of my 10-year tenure at the Yorkshire Post giving Yorkshire Bank and its sister Clydesdale a good kicking, I think it's about time I redressed the balance.
Not that Australian parent company NAB didn't deserve a good kicking –100 UK branch closures, 1,700 job losses, the first major bank to scrap the final salary pension scheme, a 150m banking scandal and a record of holding onto chief execs that made the Lib Dems look good – meant there was little else you could do.
But finally the UK top brass have turned the business around and there is no doubting their commitment to it. As chief exec Lynne Peacock said you don't spend 9m revamping the head office at Merrion Way if you plan to sell the business.
While a 16 per cent increase in annual profits to 379m is impressive as is the bank's firm financial footing (no risk of a Northern Rock here), the most credible figure is a staff satisfaction rate of 81 per cent.
This means that four out of five employees are happy with their lot.
The figure of 81 per cent compares to 76 per cent in 2006 and 55 per cent in 2005 – a commendable turnaround.
If you're sitting in an office reading this, why not ask four colleagues and yourself whether you are thoroughly happy with the way you're treated at work? I very much doubt four out of five will say they are.
Now Parky has left the Yorkshire Post we're all taking it in turns to write his famous column. Great! Instead of writing about other people I can write about myself!
My only hesitation is the dreadful photo that accompanies it. It was taken 10 years ago when big curly hair was fashionable. And no, I don't know why I look ginger either.
So why not change it? Well some more recent photos were taken but I looked so dreadful in them I threw a hissy fit and demanded they all be removed or I'd leave the Post immediately.
But the other reason is the weirdos. Oh yes. As soon as your photo appears in the paper they crop up in your incoming email.
Most of them can be easily spotted as harmless lunatics, but the more dangerous variety get you involved in ongoing email exchanges about some Yorkshire company or other.
This is all fine (albeit rather time wasting), but after a lengthy exchange one of them said he knew where my office was in London and he would wait outside until I left for the evening and maybe we could go somewhere quiet together.
My plan is that if he does turn up he'll be on the look out for a chubby redhead with criminal nineties hair and a come hither look and I can slip out un-noticed.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 11 February 2012
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