Chorion the leisure group which owns the Tiger Tiger chain of bars and the rights

Chorion, the leisure group which owns the Tiger Tiger chain of bars and the rights to Noddy and the Agatha Christie novels, has delayed plans to demerge into two separate companies until next year at the earliest. Chorion, the leisure group which owns the Tiger Tiger chain of bars and the rights to Noddy and the Agatha Christie novels, has delayed plans to demerge into two separate companies until next year at the earliest.
The company said stock market conditions were not suitable for the split and that a delay would give management the chance to strengthen the intellectual property business with new character deals. The company is seeking to buy the rights to other crime writers with Arthur Conan Doyle mentioned by analysts as one possibility.Nick Tamblyn, Chorion’s chief executive, said: “The timing of this [the demerger] is vital and it is important that both divisions are operationally and financially ready. Intellectual property is not really ready.”Mr Tamblyn added that if demerged now the two businesses would be “gobbled up quite cheaply” which would not be in the best interests of shareholders.He said the acquisition of other brands “in the Agatha Christie mould” was a prime strategic objective with deals, with film and television potential, expected to be announced in “the very near future”.The comments came as Chorion reported pre-tax profits of £9.5m in the year to 31 December.

This compares to losses of £8.8m in the previous year when the results were affected by the group’s withdrawal from the Trocadero site in central London.In the intellectual property division, which owns the rights to Enid Blyton’s books, profits rose 13 per cent to £4.7m. Production of a 100-part animation series Make Way for Noddy is underway and will be marketed to broadcasters at the Cannes Festival next month. Spin-off deals for merchandising and video rights will be sought at the same time.In the bars division, profits soared 37 per cent to £7.1m as the success of the group’s Tiger Tiger outlets continued. These 12 bars, which are open until 2am to 3am have been trading well and new branches are planned for Nottingham, Bristol and Dublin. The company is also looking at expanding into continental Europe with Paris, Madrid and Barcelona the main targets.The shares closed a penny higher at 36p..

Directors at Cradley Group, a West Midlands printer, are grappling with an unusual personnel challenge: what to do when a board member refuses to resign?

Directors at Cradley Group, a West Midlands printer, are grappling with an unusual personnel challenge: what to do when a board member refuses to resign?
The company has been forced to call an extraordinary meeting to oust its finance director after unsuccessfully trying to remove him from the board, it said in a statement yesterday.The directors decided on Friday that Geoff Gibbons, finance director and company secretary, would be “excluded” from the board. “This follows Mr Gibbons being asked to leave following a mutual disagreement in connection with the future development of the company,” Cradley said.The group, listed in London since 1963, has already appointed a successor, Maureen Hawkins, who is currently divisional finance director at SGB Manufacturing.However, Mr Gibbons has refused to resign. Cradley, which prints Newsweek and Time magazines in the UK, said it will call an EGM within 28 days to get shareholder approval to remove forcibly Mr Gibbons from the board. Chris Jordan, joint managing director, said securing the necessary vote should not be difficult. The Jordan family, which has three members on the board, owns 80 per cent of the company.Mr Jordan refused to be drawn on the details of the disagreement, although the level of compensation due to Mr Gibbons is believed to be among the contentious issues.”This is a delicate matter,” he said “There is no logic to him [Mr Gibbons] remaining here He cannot contribute Logic would dictate that he should resign…. He wants certain things clarified first.”Mr Jordan said the falling-out was unrelated to the cost-cutting programme the company announced in October in response to poor results.Cradley shares, which have almost halved from 45.5p over the last year, closed down 0.5p yesterday at 24p.. Richard Eyre, the director of strategy and content at RTL Group, the pan-European broadcaster in which Pearson, the media group, has a 22 per cent stake, is leaving the company.

Richard Eyre, the director of strategy and content at RTL Group, the pan-European broadcaster in which Pearson, the media group, has a 22 per cent stake, is leaving the company.
Mr Eyre’s departure, ahead of RTL’s presentation of full-year results tomorrow, comes less than a year after Pearson folded its television interests, including a stake in Channel Five, into RTL. A former head of ITV, Mr Eyre had served as chairman and chief executive of Pearson TV, having succeeded Greg Dyke after he became director general of the BBC.Mr Eyre would become the second British television executive to be cast aside since RTL and Pearson pooled their television interests. David Elstein, the founding chief executive of Channel Five and a former director of broadcasting at BSkyB, left the station last year with a substantial pay-off.Officials at Pearson and RTL declined to comment on Mr Eyre’s future with the company. Marjorie Scardino and John Makinson, respectively chief executive and finance director of Pearson, are non-executive directors of RTL.Mr Eyre has served as the highest-ranking Pearson executive in RTL and is a member of its main board.

Along with Didier Bellens, the chief executive, and Ewald Walgenbach, RTL’s chief operating officer, Mr Eyre had led efforts to integrate the Anglo-German-Belgian broadcasting giant.RTL is Germany’s largest free-to-air television broadcaster and it operates a further 40 radio and television stations, including France’s most successful terrestrial network M6. Aside from inserting its stake in Channel Five into RTL, the Pearson-TV tie-up also brought in such worldwide programme franchises as The Price Is Right, Family Feud, Baywatch and Neighbours.Channel Five, with Mr Eyre’s full backing, had planned to make a major investment in programming content to boost the station’s 6 per cent share of viewership. The downturn in television advertising since late last year has seen those plans put on hold.. Syngenta and Carr’s Milling Industries yesterday joined the growing list of businesses warning of the wider financial impact of the foot-and-mouth crisis. Syngenta and Carr’s Milling Industries yesterday joined the growing list of businesses warning of the wider financial impact of the foot-and-mouth crisis.
The companies’ shares plunged as they reported that transport restrictions in the countryside were hurting product deliveries to farmers.Carr’s Milling, based in Cumbria, in the heart of the area most affected by the disease, said extra lorry trips were costing it £30,000 a month.