n reporting tomorrow what will almost certainly be the worst ever set of figures since the company’s formation in 1971, BNFL has gone to considerable lengths to keep the public in the dark about the true financial plight of the company.
Once again dispensing with the practice of holding a wide-ranging press conference, to which all journalists and interested parties are invited, BNFL is instead confining the dissemination of well-manicured information on its annual accounts to ‘selected’ journalists. With interviews on a ‘one-to-one’ basis, those journalists will be trusted to convey the appropriate company spin on what are clearly disastrous results.
A CORE spokesperson said today “ We know of journalists who, by being side-lined like this, are effectively prevented from asking legitimate questions of a public company. This is control of information at its worst but we have come to expect little else from BNFL where subterfuge and secrecy clearly remain the order of the day “.
It is likely that the 1999/2000 Annual Report and Accounts will show an abysmal performance in all sectors of the company’s operations with the possible exception of trading via recently acquired Westinghouse. Any success here though is likely to be heavily outweighed by losses and rejections of contracts by US DOE in America. Mounting long-term clean-up liabilities at Sellafield, recently estimated to have risen by £7Bn, and costs relating to the MOX scandal will worsen the returns, as will sluggish reprocessing performances, particularly in B205. Following a number of years of poor performances, THORP again failed to reach its target last year. The projected early closure of some Magnox power stations together with spiralling safety costs at operating stations will also add to BNFL’s financial woes.
Earlier this year CORE reported on compelling evidence of BNFL’s questionable accounting practices being raised in March by an independent analyst with the DTI Select Committee, who publicly voiced its own concerns. The evidence, highlighting the abject failure of Government to scrutinise the company’s finances, showed a sequence of Financial Accounts from the 1980’s up to last year to be of highly doubtful validity. The evidence appears, once again, to have been swept under the carpet by Government – the company’s shareholder.
CORE’s spokesperson added “ Against evidence like this we will be viewing the 1999/2000 accounts, bad as they must be, with the greatest scepticism. If BNFL can falsify quality assurance data and lie to their customers they are equally capable of fiddling their books “.
For further inforamtion contact CORE on 01229 833851 or Mobile 0789 999 1146.