The future of direct mail, fulfilment and print specialists, RNB Group, has been secured and the jobs of all 30 employees saved following its sale. The business, which is based in Silver Royd Business Park, has been trading for almost 20 years. It handles entire marketing campaigns including providing creative design, digital and inkjet printing and data services. Facing mounting cash flow issues, the directors of RNB Group turned to Begbies Traynor to market the business. There was substantial interest from potential buyers and a sale was completed to another print and delivery services company, PDMF, just two weeks later. The jobs of all 30 employees have transferred to the new owner which will continue to operate the business from its existing site in Leeds. LCF Law provided legal advice to the administrators, and Freeths represented the acquirers. The sale was led by Bob Maxwell and Louise Longley of Begbies Traynor Group. “RNB Group is a long-established and well-known Leeds business which simply ran into some short-term cash flow problems,” explains joint administrator Bob Maxwell of Begbies Traynor. “Fortunately, we were able to act swiftly to market the business and conclude a sale for it as a going concern. It’s great news for the staff, suppliers and customers that the business will continue in the hands of new owners.”

Preston-based Turner Accountants has merged with Lincolnshire’s Streets Chartered Accountants, seeing the establishment of Streets Turner Chartered Accountants. This latest merger is one of more than seven that Streets Chartered Accountants have completed in 18 months and which has seen the practice grow, now with more than 27 offices and fee income over £35 million. Mike Turner, Managing Director at Turner Accountants, said: “I am delighted and excited about the merger. The practice was founded in 1996 by myself and over the years it has grown based on our reputation and the demands of clients in and around Preston. “As with any business we cannot stand still and to overcome the challenges we and our clients face, we needed to develop our business. We looked for some time to find a perfect partner to support us and one with which we share mutual values and we believe we have found that in Streets. “Certainly, there is a great match, both in terms of client focus and cultural fit. The merger has also given us the opportunity to promote three, highly valued, members of the team, Henry Abell, Lynda Rainford and Catherine Clifton to directors. “Now that Turners is part of a larger practice, we can confidently promise greater continuity of service to our clients and improved career prospects for our team. “We also believe that our clients will benefit in that the combined firm will be able to offer a wider range of services including areas of specialist corporate and private client tax planning, banking and finance, international advice, personal financial planning and even a virtual finance office whilst still retaining those personal relationships. “As a result of the merger, we are also now able to undertake statutory audits for larger clients, as well as businesses and organisations across Preston.” Streets Chartered Accountants’ Managing Partner, Paul Tutin, said: “In line with our strategy to become a truly UK practice we are looking at and working with a number of firms looking to become part of Streets. The merger of Turner Accountants in Preston is the latest in line with our plans to expand our geographical coverage and provides us with an ideal presence in Lancashire. “We were delighted to enter into a conversation with Mike Turner and his team at Turner Accountants. Very early on in our discussions it was clear that we shared the same vision and values for the profession and for supporting our clients. “We are really looking forward to working with Mike, Henry, Catherine and Lynda to grow the practice and to further establish it as a pre-eminent accountancy, business and tax advisory firm servicing the needs of businesses and individuals across Lancashire and the North West. “Looking ahead with a number of further mergers and acquisitions in the pipeline which include a number of practices across the UK, we are on track to achieve our target revenue of £40m by the end of the year. “The profession is going through significant consolidation with heightened levels of merger and acquisition. In contrast to many our approach seeks to build on the success of merging firms, ensuring we retain and build on their winning approach. An approach we believe is particularly liked by many of those looking to exit routes, the challenge of growing their practice or facing increased competition and the need to widen their service offering.” Streets Law, Streets Chartered Accountants’ dedicated corporate and commercial law offering led by Managing Director and Solicitor, Adam Aisthorpe, undertook the legal work on Streets Chartered Accountants’ behalf for the merger, including drafting the sale and purchase agreement and dealing with the due diligence process in collaboration with internal colleagues in tax and audit teams.

New figures from KPMG UK’s mid-year Fraud Barometer show that money laundering has been the most common fraud type by value in the last six months.

Nine cases have been heard in UK Crown Courts collectively worth £128.2 million so far this year. With the UK regularly cited as a hub for illicit finance, it is positive that more suspected perpetrators of this crime are appearing to be prosecuted.

The research, which records alleged fraud cases with a value of £100k and above heard in UK Crown Courts, has revealed 122 fraud cases in total were heard in the first six months of the year. This is up from 105 cases during the same period in 2023.

By contrast, fraud value was just over £305 million, a 14% drop compared to the first six months of the previous year, when the total fraud value stood at £354.2 million.

Roy Waligora, Partner and Head of UK Investigations at KPMG, said: “Money laundering continues to be a problem in the UK due to the complexity and sophistication of financial systems that can be exploited for illegal activities. It will be interesting to see if the relatively new requirement for overseas entities to be registered at Companies House will result even more of these cases reaching the courts soon.”

The public sector has been the biggest victim of fraud in terms of value so far in 2024. 26 fraud cases related to the government have been heard, with a combined value of £193.4 million, an increase of 30% compared to the same period in 2023.

The general public also continues to bear the brunt of fraud, with 41 cases totalling £33.2 million being heard in the UK’s courts during the first half of 2024.

Roy Waligora observed: “Greater focus on fraud in the public sector may have contributed to more effective identification and prosecution of fraudulent activities against the government. This proactive approach to tackling fraud may also result in a higher number of similar cases being seen during the second half of the year.

“However, UK courts remain under pressure to address high volumes of fraud at a time when the UK justice system is also under pressure to tackle hard crime. The widely expected publication of guidance on what constitutes ‘reasonable procedures’ by Government will kickstart the timeline for corporates to implement improved fraud management and may make the prosecution of fraud somewhat simpler.”

When examining the most common type of fraud, account takeover fraud was the highest by volume in 2024 so far. 16 cases with a combined value of £7.2 million have reached the UK Crown Courts in the last six months. This was followed by fraud related to counterfeit, pirated, or below stated quality goods (15 cases) and embezzlement (15 cases).

Roy Waligora added: “Methods for perpetrating account takeover fraud are becoming more sophisticated, so it is promising to see that so many of these criminals are being brought to justice. However, with UK Finance reporting 121,650 cases of account takeover fraud in the whole of 2023, it’s clear that only a tiny fraction of these criminals are brought to justice.”