Learn Direct
Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2017 3:00 pm
I see that Myles has started an interesting thread over in The Other Place about Darryl Eales' links to Learn Direct, which is currently in the news.
I can't say I understand what's going on, other than that:
- Learn Direct tried to suppress a bad Ofsted report, but have ultimately failed to do so;
- And questions are being asked about the company's finances. It's not clear whether that's linked to the Ofsted report or the result of separate investigative journalism
It's also not clear what exactly Darryl Eales has to do with any of this, but it is interesting that he's the ONLY individual mentioned in this Guardian article about the situation:
"[...]Learndirect’s profit after tax dwindled from £10m in 2012 to just £1.6m in the year to July 2015, the most recent period for which figures are available, despite revenues surging from £134m to £171m.
At the same time, Learndirect’s parent companies, Pimco (Holdings) and Pimco 2909 paid out tens of millions of pounds in management fees, dividends and interest payments.
Pimco 2909’s outgoings in 2012 include the £500,000 sponsorship of the Marussia Formula One motor-racing team, chaired by Darryl Eales, who was a Pimco 2909 board member and former chief executive of LDC. LDC is the private equity arm of Lloyds and is the ultimate owner of Pimco (Holdings) and Pimco 2909.
Learndirect was launched by the government as a charity and taken private by LDC in 2011. At that point it had no borrowings but the group of companies is now heavily laden with debt.
The group had nearly £96m of debts due for repayment after one year, including £44m to Lloyds Development Capital. That compares to £85m of assets, of which £71m is marked as “goodwill” – essentially notional value rather than tangible assets."
***
Anyone know whether this is likely to be problematic for our chairman?
I can't say I understand what's going on, other than that:
- Learn Direct tried to suppress a bad Ofsted report, but have ultimately failed to do so;
- And questions are being asked about the company's finances. It's not clear whether that's linked to the Ofsted report or the result of separate investigative journalism
It's also not clear what exactly Darryl Eales has to do with any of this, but it is interesting that he's the ONLY individual mentioned in this Guardian article about the situation:
"[...]Learndirect’s profit after tax dwindled from £10m in 2012 to just £1.6m in the year to July 2015, the most recent period for which figures are available, despite revenues surging from £134m to £171m.
At the same time, Learndirect’s parent companies, Pimco (Holdings) and Pimco 2909 paid out tens of millions of pounds in management fees, dividends and interest payments.
Pimco 2909’s outgoings in 2012 include the £500,000 sponsorship of the Marussia Formula One motor-racing team, chaired by Darryl Eales, who was a Pimco 2909 board member and former chief executive of LDC. LDC is the private equity arm of Lloyds and is the ultimate owner of Pimco (Holdings) and Pimco 2909.
Learndirect was launched by the government as a charity and taken private by LDC in 2011. At that point it had no borrowings but the group of companies is now heavily laden with debt.
The group had nearly £96m of debts due for repayment after one year, including £44m to Lloyds Development Capital. That compares to £85m of assets, of which £71m is marked as “goodwill” – essentially notional value rather than tangible assets."
***
Anyone know whether this is likely to be problematic for our chairman?