Worthington Grp Share News (WRN)

Fully listed Worthington Group has appointed Beaumont Cornish as its financial adviser and this could be a precursor to a move to AIM. Worthington says that it will shortly be calling a general meeting. Worthington will put forward proposals that "would better serve the needs of the company and shareholders and will enable us to better consider other opportunities that we believe exist in the market". As Worthington is effectively a shell a move to AIM would make sense. The company's main asset is a site in Keighley. Investment property is valued at £1.8m in the balance sheet. Worthington says that it will need to commit several hundred thousands of pounds to pursue a planning application that could significantly increase the value of the site. The tenants move out later in the year. Worthington has an associate company called Trimmings by Design and it is trying to negotiate future arrangements with the business. Liberty Capital acquired a 7.54% stake in Worthington last summer and Regenesis Holdings Ltd owns 21.99%. Peter Townsend, a representative of investment company Regenesis, was appointed as chief executive of Worthington on 6 July and then finance director as well in October.Loss-making Worthington had a net asset value of £70,000 at the end of September 2010. That is after a pension deficit of £3.27m. Talks about these funding arrangements continue.