Bank talks spark Sportsworld slide

SPORTSWORLD Media, the company behind Popstars and the Pepsi Chart Show, crashed to penny share status as it said that it was in talks with its principal banker, NatWest, over its ongoing funding requirements.

It also said that it would now not even make the sharply lower profit figure it forecast only two weeks ago when it issued a shock profits warning.

The shares, which stood at 695p less than two years ago valuing the company at almost £500m, collapsed by 23p to just 3 1/2p, giving the company a value of £2.4m.

Sport entrepreneur Chris Akers, former chairman of Leeds Sporting, quit as a non-executive director nursing a sizeable loss on his 300,000 shares, which were worth almost £1m less than three months ago.

Sportsworld said that, following the profits warning, it started a detailed review of operations. It said it had not finished that yet but revealed it would not hit the £9m earnings it indicated last month by a substantial amount. It said it would review its accounting practices, particularly on goodwill and investments in programmes.