KPMG AND EY have won out as the latest batch of major listed company audit tenders has been decided.

FTSE 250-listed Pennon Group, which provides water and sewerage services, has chosen EY to run its £1m audit. Another £1.3m in non-audit and advisory services were paid to its auditor PwC last year.

Pennon, which was looking to appoint a new audit committee chairman, has kept Gerard Connell in place for a further year and brought forward its audit tendering process. This will allow Connell to hand over to a new audit committee chairman with EY set in place.

Property developer Quintain Estates has retained KPMG as its auditor, while EY has won the audit of Pennon Group from PwC.

In Quintain’s annual report, where the tender process was earlier broached, audit committee chairman Simon Laffin stated that the length of KPMG’s tenure was not a significant factor of itself, nor that its auditor had to be from the Big Four. “…A deep understanding of our business, and a high quality audit team are however essential parts of any audit,” stated Laffin.

KPMG previously picked up £309,000 in fees for audit work at Quintain, alongside a further £200,000 for other assurance services. Quintain’s internal audit service is run by PwC.