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Staff fears over jobs at luxury smartphone maker Vertu Corporation as bills go unpaid

The Vertu brand targets wealthy shoppers around the world - Credit: Peter Tsai Photography / Alamy Stock Photo
The Vertu brand targets wealthy shoppers around the world - Credit: Peter Tsai Photography / Alamy Stock Photo

Workers at a British luxury smartphone maker fear that hundreds of skilled jobs may be at risk amid anger over missing pension contributions and a dispute over how its Turkish exile owner took control of the business.

Vertu Corporation Ltd (VCL), which was once owned by the Finnish mobile giant Nokia and sells its “Handmade in England” handsets to wealthy clients for as much as £40,000, is also facing claims by suppliers over unpaid bills.

Sources inside the company have told The Telegraph that production is running at reduced capacity.

Contractors have stopped collecting rubbish and around 200 workers at the company’s Hampshire headquarters claim their wages are overdue this month.

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VCL staff said in a formal grievance letter that they were due to be paid on Tuesday last week. Lawyers for the company's owner said wages are not due until this Friday.

A Telegraph review of company documents and testimony from current and former staff has raised questions over the management and future of the company since Murat Hakan Uzan, a Turkish exile based in Paris, took control in March.

Last week staff presented the company with their letter, demanding answers over hundreds of thousands of pounds in pension contributions that have been deducted from wages since February but not paid into the company’s retirement fund. They have received no answer as to why the payments to the pension scheme remain unpaid.

Vertu handsets include expensive materials such as sapphire and titanium
Vertu handsets include expensive materials such as sapphire and titanium

At the time of the takeover Mr Uzan said he had paid £50m for the company and would be “providing the investment to enable Vertu to realise its full potential”. It instead appears there has little or no investment in VCL over the last three months and the some of the daily running costs have not been met.

An email from the previous owner, a Hong Kong hedge fund manager named Gang, or Gary, Chen, sent to some senior executives makes allegations of wrongdoing by Mr Uzan and his Cyprus-based acquisition vehicle Baferton Ltd in the takeover of VCL and associated companies.

Mr Chen claims that on March 24 “after the completion of the equity transfer by Vertu, Mr Uzan’s team only provided a bank transfer screenshot”.

“The bank did not receive the transfer from Mr Uzan… I still [have] not yet received any payment from Mr Uzan.”

Mr Chen said he had appointed lawyers and intended to sue Mr Uzan for the “illegal act” of holding Vertu’s shares, requiring the deal to be struck out and “huge compensation”.

Lawyers for Mr Uzan said he acquired VCL and assumed debts of €31m (£27.2m) after Mr Chen stated he intended to put the business into administration.

They added: "Since then, the new owner has examined the company’s finance, contracts and relationships and has been shocked to discover that many suppliers have not been paid for a year and a half and was concerned to discover that staff-related payments had not been made regularly.  

"The new owners have instructed lawyers to pursue Mr Chen through the Chinese courts in respect of unlawful use of company assets. Since the business changed hands, all staff payments have been made, and staff are due to be paid at the end of this month as happens normally."

Murat Hakan Uzan
Murat Hakan Uzan is in dispute over the ownership of VCL and other Vertu group companies with their former owner Gary Chen

The Turk is no stranger to legal battles. He is part of a billionaire business dynasty that once owned a bank, a broadcaster and a mobile operator before fleeing criminal charges, which the Uzans claim were politically motivated. The family has also fought a long battle against a multi-billion-pound fraud claim from Motorola and Nokia over loans made to help set up their mobile operator, but which it is alleged were used to fund a jet-set lifestyle.

VCL staff fear there may be no company left by the time Mr Chen challenges Mr Uzan. The company’s creditors are believed to be considering calling in debts. They include Microsoft, which acquired Nokia and is the leaseholder for its headquarters, which are sub-leased to VCL. Around £2.5m in rent is alleged to be overdue.

Documents also show that the property services provider CBRE is owed nearly £420,000, most of which is overdue. It warned VCL earlier this month that it planned to stop collecting waste, cleaning and providing pest control services last Friday. Other major creditors include the microchip giant Qualcomm and the IT provider Acora. VCL's accounts will be a year overdue at Companies House in September.

A perceived lack of communication from Mr Uzan’s team has compounded staff fears. One of his first acts on taking control of the Vertu group of companies was to remove the senior management team.

The company has since been run by his representatives, including a well-connected French financier named Jean-Charles Charki. He is known in France as the son-in-law of Nicolas Sarkozy’s former chief of staff and interior minister, and has been linked to controversial business deals in Africa.

Some VCL assets, such as shop leases on the continent, have been transferred to Vertu AK, a French company in the group also controlled by Mr Uzan.