Luke Johnson cuts ties with InterQuest

Entrepreneur Luke Johnson has left IT recruiter InterQuest's board and he has sold his stake in the AIM-quoted company.Johnson's 3.03m shares (9.7% of the company) were placed at an average price of 53p a share. Jim Mellon bought 1.82m of these shares giving him a 5.8% stake. InterQuest raised £3m gross (£2.4m net) at 55p a share when it joined AIM in May 2005. Johnson was co-founder, with chief executive Gary Ashworth, of InterQuest in October 2001. Trading continues to improve and it is in line with expectations. House broker FinnCap forecasts a rise in full year profit from £2.8m to £3.7m.