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Corporate Travel Management, is embroiled in an overcharging scandal potentially worth more than $100 million. Following a review, it would have to backtrack on revenues recorded in the UK for the past three financial years. That includes 58.2 million pounds ($117.8 million) for the 2023 and 2024 financial years.
Another 19.4 million pounds it had planned to book in the 2025 financial year was also under review.
Shares in $2.3 billion travel group Corporate Travel Management will remain suspended until at least 2026 after it admitted its UK accounts contained serious errors that saw key clients overcharged.
The group’s UK chief executive Michael Healy has been temporarily stood down with immediate effect after it called in consultants at KPMG to get to the bottom of the ballooning accounting scandal.
The travel group said it’s unlikely to meet a deadline to file updated accounts by December 31 as it said £77.6 million ($158 million) in UK revenue booked between financial years 2023 and 2025 would need to be reversed or refunded to clients. It also warned $13.9 million in provisions for bad debts need to be added to its Australian accounting lines.
“We recognise the impact this situation has had on our shareholders and affected UK clients, and we unreservedly apologise,” said founder and managing director Jamie Pherous. “While this work continues, we remain focused on delivering quality service to our clients across all markets.”
The company added that it will work with KPMG to determine the size of any further accounting restatements or adjustments required.
Pherous built the business after it listed on the ASX in 2010 via an aggressive growth strategy of buying rival travel operators in UK, Europe, Asia and North America.
Shares have now been suspended since September 1.
Source: The Nightly
