KPMG resigns as auditor to scandal-hit P&O Ferries

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KPMG has resigned as auditor to P&O Ferries, saying the factors that delayed the scandal-hit company’s 2022 accounts had not been addressed and that it had completed very little work on the overdue 2023 accounts.

In a letter filed to Companies House this week, the Big Four accounting firm said it would not be able to complete the company’s 2023 audit “to the required standard within management’s desired timetable”.

It said this was partly because some of the “drivers” behind the late filing of P&O’s 2022 accounts remained. It did not outline the reasons behind the delay in signing off the 2022 accounts.

P&O was required to file its 2022 accounts by September 2023 but multiple entities in the corporate group missed the deadline. The 2022 accounts for P&O Ferries Limited were not filed until February this year, according to Companies House filings.

KPMG said in the letter that it had only managed to perform “very limited work” on the 2023 accounts as a result of P&O’s late 2022 accounts.

The accounting firm said it felt that the reason for its resignation needed to be brought to the attention of the company’s shareholders or creditors.

P&O has struggled through several turbulent years, including the Covid-19 pandemic, Brexit’s impact on freight and passenger flows, and the political fallout from its controversial sacking of UK staff in 2022. 

The company has said the decision to fire around 800 of its UK-based crew and replace them with cheaper agency staff on flexible contracts was driven by its perilous financial position. P&O’s chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite told a parliamentary hearing in 2022 that he deliberately “chose not to consult” trade unions over the redundancies.

Accounts published on Companies House, for 2022, showed that P&O received hundreds of millions of pounds in loans from its Dubai-based owner DP World to keep it afloat. 

P&O was also “in breach of covenants with respect to its external debt” at the end of 2022, the accounts said.

P&O was bought by DP World in 2019 but has been owned by companies linked to the Dubai government for nearly 20 years.

KPMG declined to comment. P&O said: “We thank KPMG for their services as our auditors. P&O Ferries is focused on filing our 2023 accounts as soon as possible.”