UK demolition giant Keltbray has has launched an appeal in the Competition Appeal Tribunal against the level of the financial punishment resulting from last year’s CMA investigation. The company claims that the fine was disproportionate and was calculated wrongly, adding that “the competition regulator “plucked a figure almost from thin air” when it handed down…Read moreRead more
Competition
Keltbray’s CMA appeal begins
CMA – Far from over
It took fully four years for the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate bid-rigging and price fixing in the UK demolition industry. Four years until the guilty were named; four years until fines of nearly £60 million were handed down to the 10 NFDC member companies involved. But it will be more than five years…Read moreRead more
Squibb on the brink
Squibb Group, one of the UK’s biggest demolition companies, has applied for a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) in an attempt to keep creditors at bay. The company has appointed administration specialist Begbies Traynor as it works to survive what is being described as a “cash-flow crisis”. DemolitionNews spoke to one of the company’s creditors this…Read moreRead more
CMA – The story that refuses to die
In a recent interview with Building magazine, newly-appointed NFDC CEO Duncan Ruddal said: “I’m not going to keep recapping over the CMA. I’m a new CEO and I will draw a line in the sand on the issue at some point.” That point, apparently, has not yet been reached. Following the publication of the full…Read moreRead more
CMA fallout continues to spread
The Competition and Markets Authority has today announced that it has secured the disqualification of another demolition director involved in the unlawful conduct. Nicholas (Nick) Brown – a current director of Brown and Mason – has been disqualified for a period of seven years. Brown admitted being personally involved in two breaches of competition law…Read moreRead more
Squibb takes a stand against CMA fine
Essex-based Squibb Group has announced that it has launched an appeal to overturn the fine levied against it by the Competition and Markets Authority. Along with Erith, Squibb was one of two firms that contested the CMA’s provisional findings last summer. But even though the CMA cleared it of making so-called ‘compensation payments’, having initially…Read moreRead more
CMA – Word is spreading
Any hopes that news of the near £60 million fines handed down to 10 UK demolition companies entangled in a bid-rigging cartel might just “blow over” have been dashed as word has spread across the media here in the UK and much further afield. DemolitionNews has compiled a list of more than 30 publications that…Read moreRead more
The CMA Files – A chapter closes
An investigation into bid-rigging, price-fixing and collusion within the UK demolition industry has finally delivered its findings after more than three years. Three company directors have been disqualified and ten companies have received fines that total almost £60 billion. But while this marks the closing of the Competition and Markets Authority investigation, at least for…Read moreRead more
CMA fines – £29 million and rising
DSM has become the latest demolition company to declare the amount of money it has earmarked to settle fines that are expected to be levied by the Competition and Markets Authority following an investigation into alleged bid rigging in the UK demolition sector. The Midlands-based company has set aside £1.6 million, taking the total so…Read moreRead more
CMA prolongs the agony…again
If the Competition and Markets Authority investigation into bid-rigging and price covering within the UK demolition industry has taught us anything, it is that the CMA views deadlines as a movable feast. Ever since the investigation began back in March 2019, the CMA has promised further updates on no less than six separate occasions. And…Read moreRead more
