Four Seasons Accounts
Monday 30th January 2012
CARE HOME COMPANIES RELYING ON PUBLIC
MONEY MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO HOLD ASSETS IN OFFSHORE TAX HAVENS
RISKING NEW SOUTHERN CROSS SAYS GMB
Companies like Four Seasons with 500
care homes in the UK providing public services must be obliged by
law to be accountable and transparent and holding assets in
offshore companies with accounts not available to the public is not
consistent with that aim
GMB, the union for care home staff, is calling
for legislation to outlaw care home companies relying on public
money for their income from holding assets in overseas tax havens.
This is after Four Seasons Healthcare Group said it was not obliged
to disclose its offshore accounts. Four Seasons run 500 care homes
in the UK. See regional releases at the foot of this release on
GMB website http://www.gmb.org.uk/ for
details of where these homes are located.
Four Season Healthcare Group has finally
agreed to GMB requests to publish accounts for offshore companies
based in Channel Islands and Cayman islands on its website within
the next two weeks. ‘We’re not obliged to explain this to
anybody – we’re putting this out for the sake of
transparency,’ it was quoted as saying.
This new stance by Four Seasons is in response
to a letter from GMB to Four Seasons auditors, KPMG, which asked
for clarification as to how the figure of £294.5m for net assets in
the audited accounts was consistent with the company claim in media
that net assets are £950m. See notes to editor for copy of the
GMB letter to KPMG. GMB has not yet had a response from
KPMG.
GMB had written to Four Seasons Health Care
Ltd. on several occasions requesting the accounts for their
ultimate holding company, FSHC (Guernsey) Holdings Ltd., registered
in Guernsey, and for another holding company, FINO Seniorco Ltd.,
registered in the Cayman Islands. GMB requests had been
refused.
Justin Bowden GMB National Officer for the
care home sector said “GMB represent thousands of care
workers employed Four Seasons who were transferred from Southern
Cross last year.
As their union GMB has been seeking
information from Four Seasons since last autumn as to how it will
pay loans of £780m given that accounts audited by KPMG say it has
net assets of £294.5m. Four Seasons has responded in press that it
has assets of £950m but it had until now it has published no
details of where these assets are held. Four Seasons now say they
will publish some details but are under no obligation to do
so.
From the point of view of the staff,
the residents and their families that is a wholly unsatisfactory
state of affairs. Given what happened at Southern Cross this is a
belligerent and outrageous stance and shows Four Seasons management
don't live in the real world but some offshore cloud cuckoo
land.
Four Seasons looks after 25,000
elderly residents in 500 care homes in the UK. Four Seasons relies
on public funds for the bulk of its income. It is essential that
companies like Four Seasons providing public services are required
by law to be accountable and transparent. The
elderly and vulnerable in their care deserve nothing
less.Holding assets in offshore companies with
accounts not available to the public is not consistent with this
aim.
GMB is calling for the law to be
changed to outlaw care home companies relying on public money from
holding assets in offshore tax havens risking a new Southern Cross.
There is something wrong here and this change
would be a big step towardsresponsible
capitalism in action in this sector.”
End
Contact: Justin Bowden 07710
631 351 or Chris Jukes 07870 176 733. GMB Press Office 07921
289880 or 07974 251823
Related release for
the East of England
Related release for the East
Midlands
Related release for
London
Related release for
the North East
Related release for
Northern Ireland
Related release for
the North West
Related release for
Scotland
Related release for the
South East
Related release for the
South West
Related release for
Wales
Related release for the West
Midlands
Related release for
Yorkshire & The Humber
Notes to editors
1 Copy of GMB letter to KPMG
Nicola Quayle, Senior
Statutory Auditor, KPMG LLP,St James’ Square, Manchester,
M2
FOUR SEASONS HEALTH CARE GROUP
We write seeking your assistance to clear
up confusion surrounding the accounts of Four Seasons, so that we
may be able to reconcile what is in the public domain with what
Four Seasons say are their assets.
We have written to Four Seasons Health
Care Ltd. on several occasions requesting the accounts for their
ultimate holding company, FSHC (Guernsey) Holdings Ltd., registered
in Guernsey, and for another holding company, FINO Seniorco Ltd.,
registered in the Cayman Islands. Our request has been
refused.
As stated on page 26 of the Four Seasons
Health Care Ltd. Directors’ Report and consolidated financial
statements 31st December 2010, (registered number 5165301), audited
by KPMG on 28th June 2011, the consolidated accounts of FSHC
(Guernsey) Holdings Ltd. ‘are available to the public and may be
obtained from Ogier Corporate Services (Jersey) Ltd’.
We have written to Ogier Corporate Services and our request has
been ignored. As auditors, does this concern you?
In the spirit of mature transparency and
openness, we are trying to find an explanation to discrepancies
with valuations and assets quoted by Four Seasons Health Care and
should be grateful if you would provide us with answers to the
following:
It has been quoted by Four Seasons that
the most recent valuation of the company is over £950m.
Can you please tell us the source of this valuation? We think
that this is a figure that Four Seasons cannot substantiate rather
than an audited figure from KPMG. Can you please
clarify?
The 2010 accounts for Four Seasons
Healthcare Ltd. show fixed assets of £239m, current assets of £139m
and a net asset figure of £294.5m. After a detailed analysis
of all 162 companies that fall under FSHC (Guernsey) Holdings Ltd,
where annual accounts are published, we cannot find where a figure
of over £950m could have been calculated from. Do you know if
this valuation and the assets of the group are hidden away in the
accounts of companies based in the tax havens of Guernsey, Jersey,
the Cayman Islands and the Isle of Man?
Where do the accounts for FSHC (Jersey)
Holdings Ltd. fit into the complex structure of FSHC (Guernsey)
Holdings Ltd? Have the latest set of FSHC (Jersey) Holdings
Ltd., along with FSHC (Guernsey) Holdings Ltd. and the other
off-shore based companies, been shared with KPMG?
We note from the Auditors Report, from the
Directors’ Report and consolidated financial statements 31st
December 2009, that there was an issue regarding the Group’s
ability to continue as a going concern over the refinancing of the
Group debt of c£790 million and it is stated that ‘this indicates
the existence of a material uncertainty that may cast significant
doubt on the Company’s and Group’s ability to continue as a going
concern’. This statement is missing from the 2010 report yet the
debt needs to be refinanced again by September 2012. Is there a
reason for this?
In short, do KPMG recognise the Four
Seasons quoted valuation of £950m and, if so, how is it
sourced? Has KPMG seen figures that reconcile what is in the
public domain with what the Company say are assets of Four
Seasons?
We are calling on KPMG, as auditors to
Four Seasons Health Care, to release this information which we
believe is in the public interest. We look forward to hearing
from you.
Best wishes, Yours sincerely, JUSTIN
BOWDEN, GMB National Officer