KPMG resigns as an auditor to scandal hit P & O ferries

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KPMG resigned as an auditor at P&O Ferries and said the factors that delayed the 2022 accounts of the scandal hit company were not addressed and there was very little work on the overdue 2023 accounts.

In a letter to Companies House this week, the Big Four Accounting company announced that it could not be able to complete the company's audit in 2023 to the desired schedule of management.

This was partly due to the fact that some of the “drivers” remained behind the late submission of the 2022 accounts of P&O. The reasons for the delay in the signing of the 2022 accounts were not described.

P&O had to submit his accounts from 2022 by September 2023, but several companies in the group of companies missed the deadline. According to the company registrations, the accounts for P&O Ferries Limited 2022 were not submitted only in February of this year.

In the letter, KPMG said that it only managed to carry “very limited work” on the accounts of 2023 by the late 2022 accounts of P&O.

The auditing company said it was of the opinion that the reason for their resignation must be made aware of the company's shareholders or creditors.

P&O has to struggle in several turbulent years, including the Covid 19 pandemic, the effects of Brexit on freight and passenger flows and the political failures through the controversy dismissal of employees in Great Britain in 2022.

The company said the decision to relieve around 800 of its crew based in Great Britain and to replace them in flexible contracts by the employees of cheaper agencies was driven by its dangerous financial situation. The managing director of P&O, Peter Hebbllethwaite, announced in a parliamentary hearing in 2022 that he intentionally “decided not to consult unions”.

In Companies House for accounts published in 2022 showed that pouts received hundreds of million pounds of loans from his owner Dubai -based owner DP World in order to keep it alive.

P&O was also “against the external debts of the alliances in violation of the external debt,” said the accounts.

P&O was bought by DP World in 2019, but has been a member of companies that have been connected to the Dubai government for almost 20 years.

KPMG refused to comment. P&O said: “We thank KPMG for their services as an auditor. P&O Ferries focuses on submitting our 2023 accounts as soon as possible.”