FT PRESS REVIEW =6

Baljinder Chohan, the founder of UK Property Fund Managers Limited, has been disqualified for four years after a three-year investigation by the Insolvency Service. He planned to raise up to one billion pounds in equity for a property fund in 2005 but had included a number of "lies and misleading statements" in the proposal document, according to the Insolvency Service, including a claim about an impending partnership with an NHS Trust. A spokesman for Chohan confirmed his disqualification in relation to UKPFM, which "had never traded and whose only action was to draft a prospectus that was incorrect".

DEBENHAMS OUTSHINES MARKET

Debenhams (DEB.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the debt-laden department store chain, has bucked the wider trend in clothing retail to report resilient sales and said it had "money in the bank" to ward off the effects of the credit squeeze. Sales in the six months to the end of March were 1.2 percent higher than for the same period last year. Rob Templeman, chief executive, said the company was not facing an immediate crisis and there was cash available to fund the next 100 million pound repayment of its borrowings due in May. The shares rose 2.5 pence to 55.75 pence.

BLACKS FINDS ACCOUNTING DISCREPANCIES