Gunn in the wars
IS IT a Gunn? Do the pieces fit together? Is it about to go pop? Can it reach the stratosphere? (Don't bank on it.) Most important of all, now that the fuse has been lit, would you care to stand within a mile of it? These are the questions over British & Commonwealth, which once sailed the Union-Castle liners and now is a group of financial businesses put together by John Gunn. One subsidiary, Atlantic Compu- ters, is in deep trouble — and B & C, to keep the others afloat, is cutting it loose. It has gone into 'administration', one step from receivership. B & C may limit its liability for Atlantic's debts, but cannot limit the damage to its name. I have known and liked John Gunn since he was a money-broker, and say nothing worse of him than that he may have believed his own publicity. The rest of B & C is trading profitably but across British business, everyone trading with subsidiaries of large groups, content to believe that their name was their bond, will now ask for their bond.
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