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Auditors Ernst & Young sees 'fundamental uncertainties' in Tiscali accounts

This is even more worrying than €700 million of debt - Ernst & Young sees 'fundamental uncertainties' in accounts

MILAN, April 15 (Reuters) - Shares in Italian internet company Tiscali (TIS.MI) fell more than 5 percent on Wednesday after an independent auditor's report left question marks over the company's 2008 accounts.

Auditors Ernst & Young said it said it was unable to express an opinion on the accounts, citing "fundamental uncertainties" about the business, Tiscali said in a statement.

Tiscali, Italy's third-biggest Internet company by market share, said it disagreed with the Ernst & Young report.

A market analyst said the report meant the auditor did not have enough information to reach an opinion on the accounts but Tiscali said it had provided all the information needed for an audit opinion.

The independent auditors said the company's future depended on a successful conclusion to debt talks with its main lenders, Tiscali said in a statement.

Tiscali's statutory auditors concluded the company could continue as a going concern, it said.
 

Unless you are a shareholder, employee or creditor, why would it worry you?

They have managed to earn a reputation that is so bad it is genuinely impressive, and very few people will have any real sympathy for the company if it does go bust.

I think I'm right in saying that on this site they have consistently recieved by far the most complaints for a long time, and as the family tech support I have made it clear to everyone who relies on me for help that if they ever choose Tiscali, they are on their own.
 
This is of concern to customers as well - unfortunately and i am one of them. Tiscali hush these topics on their forums - why do they do so if they are not of concern to their customers? Tiscali bought a lot of ISP's so the customer-base is likely to be very high. Don't forget that they don't only offer broadband, they offer tv and line rental. These guys you see on the Tiscali forum paying BT for line rental and Tiscali also charging them for line rental - then customer has a large cashback - where will this cashback come from if they go down.

In the case of E7even there was no auditor warning, and they had taken monies off of people for several years in advance.

If i was a supplier of Tiscali, I would be very nervous of supplying goods on credit to them.
 
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Tiscali is in serious trouble and that could affect its customers if the situation is allowed to reach administration before a buyer for its UK business can be found. Sky and a few others do still have an interest but may wait until the last nail in the ISPs coffin before taking action. Personally I hope they find a buyer before then but it's very uncertain. Everything they do now is purely in the hope that UK markets will pick-up in time, though they still have to sell.
 
Tiscali hush these topics on their forums - why do they do so if they are not of concern to their customers?

To stop customers jumping the gun and leaving them now, resulting in a bigger problem for them. My point is that if Tiscali do go bust, there are other ISPs out there who can provide better services. In fact there are few if any capable of providing a worse service.

The only major issue might be their physical LLU network, but that must be pretty valuable, so I doubt there would be too much of a problem with selling it off fairly quickly.

Sky and a few others do still have an interest but may wait until the last nail in the ISPs coffin before taking action

The last I heard was that everyone pulled out because Tiscali wanted way too much money (hundreds of millions for a company going bust, and with a recession looming).

Going into administration may be a blessing to the customers, as they will generally try to sell it as a going concern (meaning a short-term continuation of service whilst they try to find a buyer), but will have to have a more realistic assessment of its value (check behind your sofa everyone).

I'm sure Sky would be interested in getting their hands on the LLU network, especially in the exchanges where they don't already have a presence, although they would presumably have to suspend the policy of only offering bb access to TV customers.
 
Forgot to mention, Tiscali has a sort of "stay of execution" (as I call it) with banks until June. Given the above news you can expect serious problems to surface if a solution is not found before then. Either way I still think a quick sale is their only real escape and the sooner they realise that holding on just does them more harm and not less the better.
 
I'm sure SKy, TalkTalk and Vodafone are watching closely. If Tiscali does go into administration they will have interested parties, thats for sure. My only question is whether a TalkTalk acquisition would put Tiscali customers in a better or worse position.
 
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I received a £5.60 refund from TfL (Transport for London, aka Too f****** Late) this morning, in respect of an Oystercard cock-up due to a defective card reader, and I always did have a secret desire to run an ISP. ;)
 
I received a £5.60 refund from TfL (Transport for London, aka Too f****** Late) this morning, in respect of an Oystercard cock-up due to a defective card reader, and I always did have a secret desire to run an ISP. ;)

You'll probably even get some change!
 
ISP's don't need to buy Tiscali for the quoted £500 million just to get hold of the 2 million or so customers. All they have to do is give Tiscali customers a "golden handshake" sign-on, I can see one such offer on another forum but it won't open up on my browser.
 
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