Consultant has debt mountain of 拢87m

Troubled consultant Mouchel will have to sell off further assets to appease its banks, after selling off its rail division to global consultant Sinclair Knight Merz, analysts have said.

Mouchel confirmed the sale of the 拢13.6m-turnover division to Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) for 拢3.4m cash on Wednesday and said the proceeds of the sale will go towards paying down the firm鈥檚 拢87m debt mountain.

But Andy Brown, analyst at Panmure who follows Mouchel, said the firm would have to make more disposals to keep its 鈥渂anks at bay鈥�.

Mouchel鈥檚 share price has dived in recent weeks as the consultant admitted to an 拢8m accounting error, delayed its accounts and lost a string of senior executives, including chair David Sugden this week.

Brown said: 鈥淭he main issue now is that they are seen as a distressed seller, so whatever price you would have thought you鈥檇 pay 18 months

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