Hat Pin chiefs quit

The chief executive and finance director of recruitment group Hat Pin have
decided to resign after discovering accounting errors which mean the company’s
last year’s results will be ‘materially worse’ than expected.

On releasing the company’s full-year result, Angela Campbell-Noë, Hat Pin
chief executive officer, and Paul Billet, financial officer, said they would
resign as the company’s shares were suspended at 34bp, pending clarification of
the company’s financial position. Non-executive chairman Terry Hitchcock will
become executive chairman.

The decision came two weeks after the company said figures would be 25% below
market ecpectations. Hat Pin said on Saturday the ‘exact outcome’ for 2007 would
not be known until an audit was completed. ‘There is no suggestion or evidence
of fraud or wilful deceit,’ it said.

The company, which insisted its businesses were ‘fundamentally sound’, said
discussions had been initiated with its principal bank which had indicated it
wished to continue to provide facilities, ‘subject to the audit providing
satisfactory answers to certain questions that have been raised by the bank’.
‘The Board believes that such answers will be forthcoming,’ Hat Pin said.

Further reading:

Hat Pin drops auditor BDO for PwC