PricewaterhouseCoopers resign as auditors to Mountbrook Homes

PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS (PwC) have quit as auditors to Mountbrook Homes, the building company owned by Jurys Doyle shareholder Sean Dunne, it emerged yesterday.

The firm sent its letter of resignation to the directors of the company on September 29, exactly one year after it signed off on the company’s last set of filed accounts, which were for the year to October 2003.

The firm said in the letter that it would resign with immediate effect and that, in accordance with company law, it confirmed there were “no circumstances connected with the resignation that we consider should be brought to the notice of the members or creditors of the company.”

The firm had qualified its opinion on Mountbrook’s accounts for the year to October 2003, saying the company had failed to prepare group accounts, as were required by financial reporting standards and EU regulations.

Group accounts would have incorporated figures from a number of companies linked to Mountbrook.

The company said at the time that group accounts had not been prepared because “in the opinion of the directors, the information necessary for the preparation of group accounts cannot be obtained without disproportionate expense and undue delay.”

PwC said, except for this failure, the financial statements gave a true and fair view of the company’s affairs at the end of the accounting period.

Mountbrook’s financial controller said yesterday the company had decided to switch to rival firm KPMG for its audit work.

The company had engaged KPMG for considerable advisory and tax-related work, including matters relating to Mr Dunne’s personal affairs, over the past six months and now wanted to centralise its advisory work with the firm, he said.

Mr Dunne, a millionaire property developer, leapt to prominence when he won the race to acquire Jurys Doyle’s high-profile site in Ballsbridge, Dublin, for €260m.

Mr Dunne later built up a 28% stake in the hotel operator as the company was circled by potential acquirers, including Precinct Investments, owner of the Gresham group.

The sale of the site was approved at a Jurys Doyle EGM last month. The company is currently the subject of a takeover approach by a consortium headed by three daughters of legendary hotelier PV Doyle, but Mr Dunne’s intentions regarding the company remain unclear.