JANUARY 2, 2003

Arrows now being run by PKF

It has been confirmed that Arrows is now in administrative receivership with the accounting firm PKF looking at whether the company can be saved. They are doing this on behalf of HSBC, the bank to which Arrows promised most of its assets in exchange for a loan last Spring.

Arrows has a winding-up order coming up. It has no entry for the World Championship. It has no engine deal, no car, no sponsorship and no staff and it is hard to see what PKF will be able to do to turn the team around from this situation. Much will depend on whether Arrows wins a legal action against its former partner Morgam Grenfell. A judgement in that case is expected within the week. PKF says that there is interest in the team although it is hard to imagine from where that will have come. The team's windtunnel has considerable value but that is the one asset that is mortgaged elsewhere.

PKF is one of the larger accounting firms in Britain and employs more than 1600 people in 25 offices around the country. It has been in business since 1869 but only took on its new name a couple of years ago, previously having been known as Pannell Kerr Forster International. The company has a turnover of around $150m.