Hat Pin chiefs quit

The chief executive and finance director of recruitment group Hat Pin have decided to resign after discovering accounting errors which mean the company’s last year’s results will be ‘materially worse’ than expected.

On releasing the company’s full-year result, Angela Campbell-Noë, Hat Pin chief executive officer, and Paul Billet, financial officer, said they would resign as the company’s shares were suspended at 34bp, pending clarification of the company’s financial position. Non-executive chairman Terry Hitchcock will become executive chairman.

The decision came two weeks after the company said figures would be 25% below market ecpectations. Hat Pin said on Saturday the ‘exact outcome’ for 2007 would not be known until an audit was completed. ‘There is no suggestion or evidence of fraud or wilful deceit,’ it said.

The company, which insisted its businesses were ‘fundamentally sound’, said discussions had been initiated with its principal bank which had indicated it wished to continue to provide facilities, ‘subject to the audit providing satisfactory answers to certain questions that have been raised by the bank'. ‘The Board believes that such answers will be forthcoming,’ Hat Pin said.

Further reading:

Hat Pin drops auditor BDO for PwC