Rupert Murdoch's attempt to combine his British newspapers with radio stations "made a slow start," accounts revealed, as audiences and profits at TalkSport declined in its first 18 months as part of News UK. The publisher of The Sun and the London Times bought the broadcaster for £220M as part of the takeover of Wireless Group in '16. Accounts filed at Companies House, the first since the deal was completed, show that in the first year-and-a-half under Murdoch, "ownership profits fell sharply." The company reported a pre-tax profit of £7.5M, compared with £21.2M in the prior 12 months (London TELEGRAPH, 7/16).
Law firm Linklaters' auditor resigned after the firm and Deloitte "blamed each other in a row over negligent tax advice" on the sale of a large stake in Arsenal. Linklaters and Deloitte are being sued for more than £11M ($14.4M) by Nina Bracewell-Smith, a former Arsenal shareholder, "over their advice on the sale" of her 16% stake in the club. Bracewell-Smith claimed that their advice was "negligent as it resulted in the loan notes being sited" in the U.K. instead of overseas, "exposing her to capital gains tax liabilities" in the U.K. (LONDON TIMES, 7/17).
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday presented its budget for the '18-19 financial year and claimed a healthy financial position, showing an income of Rs 6.4B ($50M) and expenses amounting to Rs 5.7B ($44.5M), which means a net income of Rs 700M ($5.5M). The PCB also claimed that the budgeted income for '18-19 is 133% more than the previous year's income of Rs 2.8B (DAWN, 7/17).
