Most widely read Business Desk stories of 2024

Just ahead of the July 4 General Election the political landscape was front and centre of much editorial output.
In our review of 2024’s most read stories, it is clear the region was eager for the latest on what a change of government could mean.
This was evidenced by our most widely read piece, on July 1, which revealed that an incoming Labour Government would abolish Network Rail as part of its plans to hand over the running of the railways to a new Great British Railways (GBR) body.
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TalkTalk’s Salford campus
Another big story that month saw speculation rising over the future of Salford-based telecoms group, TalkTalk.
We reported how directors and owners of the group were under pressure to secure a £200m funding deal in the next month.
The broadband and telecommunications provider, which has 3.6m UK domestic and business customers, was about to file a warning in its annual report of “a material uncertainty” on its ability to continue as a going concern if a deal isn’t done.
A short term deal with founder Sir Charles Dunstone sinking further funds into the company will run alongside ongoing discussions with debt providers, we revealed.
The business faced repayment deadlines on its existing debt facilities which it could have breached as soon as August, which could have tipped TalkTalk into insolvency.
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Photo courtesy of the Post Office
Meanwhile, as the Post Office scandal gripped the country following the ITV documentary last Christmas, Cartwright King, the law firm that was bought out of administration in December 2022, had been dragged into the Post Office Horizon scandal.
In January it emerged that Cartwright King wrote a statement on behalf of Post Office investigator Stephen Bradshaw, who said he was taking instruction from the law firm, which was acting on behalf of the Post Office.
The statement, from November 2012, said: “The Post Office continues to have absolute confidence in the robustness and integrity of its Horizon system.”
A statement from Cartwright King said: “On the 23rd of December 2022, Cartwright King Solicitors entered administration and its assets were acquired by a new company, with a completely new management team.
“None of the employees, owners or managers who were involved in advising the Post Office remain with the new company and had left Cartwright King prior to its acquisition by the new owners.
“The new owners of Cartwright King, alongside the rest of the country, horrified at the injustice caused by the Post Office prosecutions and will provide full assistance to the Inquiry to help bring those responsible to justice. This will include providing any relevant material in our possession, as well as assisting the Solicitors Regulation Authority to investigate the conduct of any solicitors involved in the prosecutions brought by the Post Office.
“We hope that following the inquiry, all those who were wrongly prosecuted will be exonerated and compensated for their loss whilst those involved in bringing the prosecutions will be brought to justice in the criminal courts.”
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Blackburn Rovers Ewood Park – © Chris Heaton
The parlous financial state of some of the region’s most historic football clubs was under scrutiny, once more, in January, when we revealed the struggle at Blackburn Rovers to free up new investment.
We reported that the club’s owners were due back in court in their native India hoping to renew a special permission agreement to keep funding the Championship club.
It had emerged that in June 2023, the poultry and pharma group Venky’s, which has owned Rovers since 2011, had to apply to the High Court in the capital New Delhi for emergency permission to pay an outstanding tax bill after an application to send £26m to Blackburn was turned down when the Indian government’s Economic Directorate refused to issue a ‘No Objection Certificate’ to payments to Rovers.
The court heard that HMRC were close to issuing Rovers with a Winding up Petition, which could have triggered a number of catastrophic financial events.
The submission from Venky’s, which owns a nationwide chain of chicken takeaways, said: “Great prejudice would be caused and the entire petition would become infructuous were there to be a default.”
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Junior Nsemba in action (Pic: Wigan Warriors)
And as if to prove that worries over financial security are not just the preserve of the football world, our report into the latest figures to emerge from Rugby League side, Wigan Warriors, also grabbed attention.
In August the club reported deeper losses for the financial year to November 30, 2023.
The club, which was taken over by data publishing billionaire, Mike Danson, last December, suffered a £1.728m pre-tax loss, compared with a £1.215m loss in 2022, despite continued on-field success.
Turnover remained relatively stable at £6.589m, against £6.633m the previous year.
Wages at The Cherry and Whites increased from £4.815m in 2022 to £5.090m, due to inflationary pay increases and the club’s continued investment in the playing and coaching staff. No dividend was paid.
However, the club had a plan, and said: “Under the direction of new ownership, the board strongly believe that the most appropriate path to financial sustainability is to target revenue growth in all areas whilst continuing to invest in the playing squads to maximise performance and provide an exciting product to Wigan Warriors and Rugby League supporters, in general.”
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But then in stepped Everton, in a ‘hold my beer’ kind of way, as we ran the rule over the region’s football clubs ahead of the start of the new season.
The Blues are possibly going through their worst period since their founding in 1878 in terms of poor on-field performances, and a circus off the pitch, as potential buyer after potential buyer had been lined up to relieve current owner, Farhad Moshiri, of his 94.1% controlling stake.
The intro – “Of the region’s four Premier League sides, only Everton fans will enter the 2024-25 season with fears, not only for their final league position this term, but also existential concerns as one takeover bid after another for the Blues has unceremoniously foundered.” – set the scene for a torrid read for Toffees fans.
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Archie and Kate Vokes
However, putting many stories firmly into context, we relayed the tragic events of last January when the Bruntwood family suffered unimaginable loss.
Tributes were paid across the region’s business community and from senior leaders following the shocking death of Kate Vokes and her son Archie following an avalanche in the French Alps.
The sister of Bruntwood SciTech chief executive Chris Oglesby, she was a director of Bruntwood and the chair of the Oglesby Charitable Trust, established by her late father Michael Oglesby, who died in 2019.
In a statement, the family said: “We will miss them terribly. The family kindly ask for privacy at this time.”
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THG offices at Manchester Airport
Another regular feature on our web pages during the year were the ongoing developments at Manchester-based online retailer, THG.
In October we revealed that the group had confirmed that it is to split off its Ingenuity division into a separate trading entity with its own stock market listing.
The company had launched an equity raise, targeting c. £75m, to facilitate the demerger through a Placing, Subscription and additional proceeds from a Retail Offer.
The funds raised would support Ingenuity with sufficient medium-term funding as it approaches positive cash generation on a standalone basis.
The raise would also include a retail offering that will be open to new and existing investors.
The logic behind the separation of Ingenuity from THG PLC, which is referred to as RemainCo, was it will become a much simpler, cash generative business that will be capable of paying future dividends, have an improved balance sheet, capex and cashflow profile.
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Harley showroom in Manchester
Even iconic brands suffer the impact of cost of living crises, as illustrated by the failure of two regional dealerships for the US motorcycle brand Harley-Davidson.
In February we revealed that they had closed after the company operating them appointed administrators.
The collapse of the Manchester and Chester dealers followed a pattern of global decline in sales for Harley Davidson as well as a difficult trading period locally.
Kerry Bailey and Mark Thornton from BDO LLP were appointed as Joint Administrators of Brookbrough Trading Company Limited and Brookbrough Holdings Limited on 2 February 2024.
The business operated two motorbike dealerships, one in Chester, the other in Manchester, selling predominantly KTM and Harley-Davidson motorbikes.
The business ceased to trade with immediate effect and, regrettably, all 30 staff members were made redundant.
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Michael Taylor
The ongoing legal saga of Inc and Co culminated late this year with the sentencing of three Manchester ‘entrepreneurs’.
Business Desk NW editor, Michael Taylor, has been diligently following this intriguing case, and in November brought even more insight into the unedifying affair which has resulted in one of the band in jail and the other two on the run.
However, the case also exposed the inherent weaknesses in corporate governance and the lack of resources among law enforcement agencies that allow such shameful instances to occur.
Michael’s excellent work is a taste of the wide ranging in-depth coverage available on our Rainmakers platform.