A major cross-Channel operator insists it is making “a strong financial recovery” - despite mounting concerns over its failure to submit its annual accounts and the shock resignation of its auditors.

P&O Ferries, which operates services between Dover and France - as well as other routes to Holland and Northern Ireland - faced a huge backlash in March 2022 when it called its vessels into port and unceremoniously axed 800 staff. Some 600 of which were in Dover.

Financial figures at the time revealed it was losing £100 million a year - a crippling loss it blamed for the culling of staff and a move it insisted was essential to ensure its survival.

All were replaced with cheaper agency labour, being paid beneath the minimum wage. Some were on just £4.87 an hour.

A legal loophole in the UK minimum wage rates means they do not apply to maritime employees working for foreign agencies on ships registered abroad while in international waters. P&O Ferries is owned by the Dubai-based DP World.

But its last set of accounts were for the year ending 2022 - published only in February of this year. The firm, whose headquarters - currently up for sale - are in Dover, reported another £100 million annual loss. Figures for 2023 are well overdue.

A spokesman for the RMT (Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers) union told KentOnline: “P&O Ferries caused outrage since it unlawfully sacked almost 800 seafarers. Now serious questions are being raised about its financial conduct and transparency with auditors resigning and company accounts seven months overdue.

“It is time this rogue employer was held accountable for the damage they have done to the industry and the ongoing financial spotlight they have created."

HMRC issues a late filing penalty fee for private companies - such as P&O Ferries - for accounts overdue by six months or more of £1,500. This is doubled if repeated in successive financial years.

Every company is obliged to file its annual accounts within nine months of the end of the accounting period.

So far, there has been no submission of accounts for the crucial year of 2023 - which would paint a picture of how it has performed since its radical restructuring of its workforce.

Its 2023 figures should have been received by September 2024. Seven-and-a-half months on, and no one is any the wiser.

This situation seems unlikely to be resolved quickly, either, after KPMG - one of what is known as the ‘Big Four’ of accountancy firms - dramatically resigned as P&O Ferries’ auditors in March of this year.

In a letter, published recently on Companies House - the government body which registers and maintains records of all private companies - Paul Glendenning, a partner at KPMG said: ”In our professional judgement, it is not possible to compete an audit of the 2023 accounts to the required standard within management's desired timetable taking into consideration the late filing of the 2022 accounts; our judgement that some of the drivers of that delay remain; and the fact that, as a result of the late filing, to date we have performed very limited work on the statutory audit for the year ended 31 December 2023.”

He does not, however, elaborate on just what the issues are.

“It is good governance for a company to meet its statutory obligations on time,” explains experienced accountant Paul Strutt who works in the Canterbury office of business advisors Kreston Reeves.

“Companies House does have the ability to take legal action against the directors of a company personally and can take proceedings which would ultimately result in the company being struck off the company register.

“Not meeting statutory filing obligations can also affect the credit rating of a business and make it harder for them to get favourable credit terms with suppliers.

“It is unusual for the auditors of a company to step down. It could be there is a breakdown in the relationship, and it may make it more challenging to appoint new auditors.”

In response to KPMG’s resignation, P&O thanked the firm “for their services as our auditors” adding “P&O Ferries is focused on filing our 2023 accounts as soon as possible” but did not say when that would be.

Richard Murphy, emeritus professor of accounting practice at Sheffield University Management School, said of KPMG’s letter: “The construction of KPMG‘s letter makes it very clear, in my opinion, that they are questioning the judgment of the management of this company.

“In the process, they are implying that the management in question is neither giving necessary attention to the need for a proper audit, nor understanding their obligation to all the users of the accounts of the company, to whom both they and the auditors of the company are responsible.”

Why is this important, you may ask?

Well, firstly, there is a legal duty for a company to file its accounts. It determines the amount of corporation tax owed and for an assessment of the legal health of a company to be made.

As the Institute of Directors says: “An auditor is an independent professional who reviews the accuracy and transparency of financial records and processes. Auditors provide assurance that financial statements produced by an organisation reflect its operational and financial results and comply with accountancy standards, tax laws and regulatory requirements.

“They provide some assurance that financial statements are free from misleading statements and fraud.”

Previous financial figures showed P&O Ferries was haemorrhaging cash and thus raising concerns over one of the cross-Channel industry’s most established brands.

A spokesperson for P&O insisted its financial position was “making a strong recovery”, pointing to the introduction of “two state-of-the-art hybrid vessels on the English Channel…and we are now on the path to operational profitability”.

In other words, its core business is making more, before tax, than it is spending.

But, for now at least, we have to take their word for that.

For P&O Ferries, such reassurance to the wider market and customers should be foremost in its mind given its controversy of three years ago - a pain still fresh in the memory of the workers and their families who found themselves abruptly out of a job.

The political ramifications of its decision in March 2022, were significant too. The outcry came from across the political divide.

Its CEO, Peter Hebblethwaite, was hauled before MPs on the business committee to explain its actions.

He admitted the company had broken the law by not consulting with unions prior to the culling of its well-established staff - many of whom had worked for the company for years.

Key to P&O Ferries’ predicament, however, is that it is owned by DP World - a giant, global port-owning, golf-sponsoring firm - which last year returned profits of some $1.5 billion (£1.13 billion).

In its 2024 annual report it highlighted it had “invested” some $327 million (£245 million) “mainly” in P&O Ferries.

Liam Byrne, chair of the Business and Trade Select Committee, has reportedly written to Peter Hebblethwaite demanding answers.

He told ITV News: “A company can’t be safe unless it is financially sound. And we don’t know today that P&O is financially sound because they are so late in filing their accounts

“When safety is so important, we can’t have companies like that operating if we can’t be sure that they’re financially sound. Right now, we can’t tell you whether P&O is safe and sound.”