Leighton faces fine for posting late accounts

Allan Leighton, the chairman of the Royal Mail appointed by the UK Government who called the postal service a “chronic failure’, faces the embarrassment of being fined for his own slowness in delivering company accounts on time.Until now, the shaven-headed 50-year-old, who is also involved with Leeds United, has been better known for his turn of speed. Leighton is an accomplished marathon runner and chairman of lastminute.com, the online retailer that specialises in meeting tight deadlines.

Officials at Companies House confirmed that Leighton has been late in filing his first set of accounts for Going Plural Ltd, the private company that collects his multimillion pound earnings from his clutch of company directorships. This is a breach of the Companies Act.

The Department of Trade and Industry also confirmed that Leighton is late in filing.

Asked whether this breach of the Companies Act was likely to improve his standing at the Post Office, a spokeswoman said: “I can’t answer that question.’

Leighton, who is scrapping 30,000 Post Office jobs and raising the price of stamps, has already been embarrassed once in his new job. A few months ago, it emerged that the Post Office had been threatening to charge small businesses £750 (e1,177) a year for early postal delivery. Leighton said he had not been informed.

Although the late filing breach is more embarrassing than heinous, it is likely to boost the argument of corporate governance experts that non-executive directors take on too much.

Leighton, who made his name turning round supermarket group Asda, is one of the most high-profile non-executive directors around.

Apart from his new £20,000 a year (plus bonus), two-day a week job running Royal Mail, Leighton is also chairman of Philip Green’s Bhs high street shops, which paid Going Plural nearly £1.8m this year.

Leighton also heads Wilson Connolly, the housebuilder that recently issued a profits warning, and lastminute.com. He recently stepped down as a non-executive director of Scottish Power.

Leighton himself denied he was late in filing when contacted 10 days ago, as the company had applied for an extension of its accounting date. He referred calls to his accountant, Albert Fox.

“The accounts cover the 18-month period until January 31, 2002, rather than the year to June 2001, so in my view we are filing accounts ahead of time,’ said Fox. He also added: “Sometimes the Registrar of Companies imposes penalties, sometimes he doesn’t.’

Though Leighton’s company extended its accounting period, it should still have filed the accounts for its first period of operation by June this year, 22 months after it was incorporated.

The accounts were finally filed last week.