Brent Wobbler
THIS IS an anxious week at Brent Walker — can the company survive as far as Friday, when it is supposed to be having a shareholders' meeting? Or Saturday, when it is booked to sponsor Ascot races? Brent Walker has reached the eleventh hour so often that the hands of the clock seem to jam there. It owes well over a billion pounds to four dozen banks whose pati- ence is never quite exhausted. Other com- panies go down like skittles, Brent Walker wobbles but is held upright. Why? It is not what the French call a national champion — a leader in technology, a major expor- ter, a great name. It is not even a good name. It is the name on a parcel of property, pubs, betting shops and debts assembled by George Walker, who has now been dislodged from control. Its share price has fallen from 465p to 17p. Its latest published figures discredit those published earlier. The police have been called in, amid accusations of forgery. Still Brent Walker survives by the grace of its banks, marshalled by the Bank of England. The Bank did not want a sauve qui peut among the creditors — with the Last National Bank of Boot Hill reaching for its money, and forcing all the other lenders to make grabs for theirs. That could have left the banks, in their turn, tottering like skittles. Besides, the Old Lady likes to see order in her class. She has made her point and achieved her effect. Brent Walker should now be left to stand or fall on its merits, if any.
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