Deloitte clocks up £4.5m on Rover

MG Rover provided Deloitte with fees of £4.5m for work in the company’s final
year, the long-delayed publication of its accounts has revealed.

Phoenix Venture Holdings, the collapsed carmaker’s parent company, also
disclosed significant tax liabilities in relation to its controversial employee
benefit trust, potentially taking an £8m hit following last year’s Dextra
decision on the disputed tax vehicles.

PVH is also in dispute with the administrators over who can use tax losses in
group relief claims – the buyers of MG Rover or Phoenix.

Deloitte earned £3.6m from corporate finance advice in relation to the
disposal of parts-making subsidiary MGR PAW, which formed the bulk of its fees.
A spokesman for PVH said the deal had been ‘very complex’.

Deloitte’s audit fees were just over £130,000, with tax advice costing PVH a
similar amount. The firm was also paid £500,000 following the year end for
corporate finance advice relating to the failed Shanghai Automotive deal that
preceded MG Rover’s collapse. Deloitte also qualified PVH’s accounts.

The accounts revealed that PVH has a potential £1.7m IHT liability and has
had to write off £6.6m in tax losses, both as a result of the Dextra decision.

The Dextra case established that payments into employee benefit trusts, used
by companies to make tax-efficient employee payments, were not deductible
against profits.