the chart looks very good /results out monday-the company has been very bullish recently.can see this one going to 9pon the results and the chart indications.

this mornings press-or some of it -very good coverage

Chorion tracks down TV sleuth deals
Robert Lea, Evening Standard
8 September 2003

TELEVISION viewers are bracing themselves for a renewed splurge of Agatha Christie whodunnits as the company which owns the rights to the crime writer's works goes into overdrive.

Chorion, the rights company chaired by Waheed Alli, the Labour peer and multimillionaire TV producer, will be delivering three new Hercule Poirots to London Weekend Television, featuring David Suchet, by the end of the year.

They include a remake of the classic Death On The Nile when Sir Peter Ustinov played the Belgian detective. Another Suchet-Poirot will be delivered in the new year.

Chorion is also in the middle of casting the new Miss Marple after signing a four-year deal to produce dramas for ITV featuring Christie's other detective. A short list is expected to be produced when playwright Kevin Elyot has finished the screenplays.

Profits for the six months to the end of June more than halved to 522,000, affected, it said, by one-off income last year from its other significant rights character Noddy.

Chief executive Nicholas James said: 'Most of our income for the second half is already contracted. This gives us confidence we will deliver substantially increased profits at the year end.'

From The Telegraph

Whodunnits and Noddy lift Chorion
By Adam Jay (Filed: 09/09/2003)


Brand management group Chorion expects to see substantally increased profitability by the year-end thanks to Agatha Christie and "increased demand for Noddy".

The company, chaired by Labour peer Lord Alli, signed a deal in March to deliver at least four Agatha Christie dramas a year over four years to ITV. The first four, starring David Suchet as Hercule Poirot and which include a Death on the Nile remake, are now in production.

Chorion will also produce a new Miss Marple series, with playwright Kevin Elyot currently writting the first script. A shortlist of actresses to play the lead will be drawn up when he has finished.

Make Way for Noddy, a computer-generated animated series, is increasing demand for Noddy products in the UK and overseas, Chorion said, with "more than 80 licensees globally selling over 400 product lines, from toys and videos to clothing and food".

Chief executive Nicholas James said: "Most of our income for the second half of 2003 is already contracted thanks to the deals we have signed with ITV and Noddy licences. This gives us . . . confidence that we will deliver substantially increased profits at the year-end."

Interim profits fell from 1.21m to 522,000 - due to 800,000 of one-off revenues last year - while turnover, which included a 94pc rise in TV, film and video revenue, increased from 4.1m to 4.2m.

The shares, which Chorion proposes be consolidated on a 1-for-30 basis, climbed 0.52 to 6.72p.



Noddy goes to America: the sequel

Annie Lawson
Tuesday September 9, 2003
The Guardian

Noddy and his Toytown friends are returning to the US to revitalise the fortunes of Chorion, the company that owns the rights to the whimsical children's character and the classic Agatha Christie books.

The group, in the throes of reinventing another classic character for ITV, spinster detective Miss Marple, will take the veteran children's star back to the US in 2005, despite a disastrous stateside debut with the BBC several years ago.

Nicholas James, chief executive of Chorion, is confident Noddy can win over audiences following the series' success in Britain, Europe and Asia, and expects to secure a broadcasting agreement by the end of the year.

Noddy, the number one show among three to five-year-olds in the UK, is expected to generate revenues of 20m in Britain by the end of the year. "We need to show the US the new programme is working in all markets it has been relaunched in," Mr James said.

A six-year deal with Universal Video to distribute Make Way for Noddy and a four-year agreement with ITV for Agatha Christie adaptations provided a strong boost to TV revenues. Chorion said yesterday it had posted a pre-tax profit of 522,000 in the six months to June 30 from 1.2m for the same period last year.

Mr James said the usually erratic TV arm would stabilise, helping the firm to forecast a 3.5m pre-tax profit for the full year. "We have visibility from television this year and at least for the next three years. This year, we are focused on trying to stabilise TV revenues and getting output deals that guarantee a level of production."


and from The Sun with a great pic of Noddy

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,9-2003412749,00.html

and The FT!!

Chorion sees Poirot leading recovery By Siobhan Cassidy
Financial Times; Sep 09, 2003

Chorion, the owner of television rights to Enid Blyton's Noddy and Agatha Christie's Poirot, expects substantially increased profitability by the year end despite a 57 per cent fall in pre-tax profit to 522,000 in the six months to June 30.
Turnover was slightly up at 4.2m (4.1m) in the period, but the brand creation and management business said an agreement with London Weekend Television to make a minimum of four new Hercule Poirot dramas a year for at least the next four years and growing demand for Noddy will help lift the figures for the full year. Siobhan Cassidy

regards
Dave

The underperforming share price may have something to do with lack of profitability due to the excessive earnings of the Directors. The remuneration committee would do well to refocus remuneration levels to the levels, which I believe are commensurate with the size of the company and its annual turnover.

The Directors appear to be doing a good job in developing the company. However, whether this yet justifies the high rewards being paid is questionable.

It is right and proper that Directors share in the future success of the company but the apparent policy appears to reward the Directors in anticipation of success.

Marunam,At last good trading update,they have reversed in a hurry.Up 8p in last 30 minutes.

I think ........................