Business Briefs - May 12

The new arrangement ends a 32-year relationship between the retailer and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

The move follows a formal tender process in which PwC did not take part.

In September Tesco said it had overstated first-half profits by £250 million due to incorrectly booking payments from suppliers, a figure it later raised to £263m.

PwC has not commented directly on the incident, but said when the Financial Reporting Council investigation was announced in December that it would cooperate fully with the inquiry and was committed to delivering work to the highest professional standards.

The Bank of England has confirmed the base interest rate will be held at 0.5 per cent for the 74th consecutive month.

The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee has also voted to keep the quantitative easing programme at £375bn, a level that has been maintained since July 2012 when it was increased by £50bn.

The Bank’s base rate has sat at 0.5 per cent since March 2009.

The minutes of the MPC meeting will be published on Wednesday 20 May.

Aberdeen-based Wood Group Kenny (WGK) has secured a multi-million dollar five-year contract with Oil Spill Response to provide the maintenance support for a key part of a containment toolkit that would be used to control hydrocarbon release in the event of a subsea well control incident.

WGK will work with the organisation to ensure flexible flowlines included in the toolkit are continuously in a condition suitable for immediate load out if mobilised by subscribing oil and gas operators.

The work will include maintenance management, recommendations for preservation, inspection and testing of all ancillary and lifting equipment, as well as the flexible flowlines, stored at sites in the UK, Singapore and Brazil.

The Warehouse Sound Services, a Scottish audio business which supplies equipment to T in the Park and major TV broadcasts, has set out plans to expand after a multi-million pound management buyout.

The firm, which is currently celebrating 35 years in business, aims to build its presence south of the Border after its takeover by long-standing director Derek Blair.

It has supplied equipment to major Scottish rock acts Biffy Clyro and Simple Minds, and the new regime is looking to build on its branches in Glasgow and Edinburgh with a third in England.

Mr Blair, who joined the business in 1994, hopes the expansion will boost turnover beyond its current £3 million.