Well, okay, the former secretary of state for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs has in fact been made a non-executive director of Ramco Energy, the AIM-listed independent oil company based in Aberdeen. It has taken over, for pounds 6.5m, Capolito Roma, a fashion retailer.Michael Abrams, who started Capolita 14 years ago with pounds 5,000, has become chief executive of the enlarged chain which takes in the 50 strong Foothold shops, selling trendy footwear.. The company, now focusing on zinc, is estimated by Dublin stockbroker Davy to have potential assets of 73p a share.Ennex International has an established zinc project in Pakistan but it is a development in Kazakstan which is intriguing followers.Owen & Robinson, the retailer, fell 1.25p to 7.25p, lowest for more than two months. edged forward 2.5p to 92.5p as Guinness Peat, the Sir Ron Brierley vehicle, lifted its interest to 8 per cent.Britton, the packaging and paper group hardened 1p to 57.5p. Last year Aminex average production was 1,500 barrels a day.Bakyrchik, the Russian gold miner once nudging 600p, fell 8.5p to 15p.Bluebird, the toys group. Shares worth pounds 1.37m will be held in an employee share ownership plan, with options over a further 20 million shares at the current share price of 18.25p, exercisable only if the share price doubles or earnings exceed 2.25p.

Mr Conlan, paid pounds 403,000 last year at First Leisure, starts on a basic salary of pounds 300,000.The latest appointments come in the wake of a deal worth up to pounds 210m to sell the Trocadero and London Pavilion properties back to Nigel Wray’s Burford, the property group out of which the Trocadero group was spun in November 1995. But the shares, listed on the Alternative Investment Market, have been in almost continuous free fall since the middle of last year, when they peaked at 79.5p, after bigger-than-expected losses at the Segaworld entertainment centre. Both Mr Conlan, one of the founders of First Leisure and until recently its chief executive, and Mr Tamblyn, a former executive director, stepped down from the bowling alleys to Blackpool Tower group earlier this year after Michael Grade, the former Channel 4 chief executive, moved up to become executive chairman.
The two new directors are being given shares and options as part of an incentive scheme which could give them somewhere between 6 and 7 per cent of the company after three years. Insurance broker Willis Corroon added 2.5p to 132.5p after the acquisition of 33.36 per cent of a French broker, Gras Savoye & Cie.Kingfisher, bidding for full control of BUT, a French electrical and furniture retailer, fell 15p to 701.5p.Glynwed, the engineer which like so many industrial groups is suffering from sterling’s strength, fell 5p to 197p, lowest since 1993; the shares were 370p last year.Ted Baker, a fashion group, closed at 139.5p against a 135p placing.Gremlin, a computer games operation, traded at 146.5p from a 159p placing. After falling 48p, the shares finished at 2,052.5p, off 10.5p.Inspirations, following the 75p-a-share offer from Carlson Leisure, a US group, gained 10p to 71.5p.

But it was quick to respond, saying there was no causal relationship between Accolate and a rare flu-like condition which could be fatal. After a see-saw display Footsie ended with an 11.6-point fall to 4,862.9 with higher interest rate fears and a subdued New York dampening enthusiasm.Boots, recently stretching to new highs, fell 29p to 787p following a lacklustre trading statement and Imperial Chemical Industries lost 17p to 908p following figures every bit as dismal as the market had expected.Mercury Asset Management, weak recently, gained 58p to 1,338p but other financials were neglected.Although LVMH disclosed it was still selling Guinness to buy Grand Metropolitan the spirit and stout group managed a 7p gain to 598.5p; GrandMet rose 2p to 619p.Zeneca had an eventful session as doubts were cast on its important Accolate asthma drug. They would use its net cash of pounds 73m to develop the group in outside retail leisure.Nigel Wray, former chairman, and Nick Leslau, acting chief executive, step down.. Centrica, the old British Gas supply arm, flared to its highest since becoming a stand-alone company in January.

The shares jumped 5.75p to 86.5p in often busy trading as some in the stock market took the view it had a far brighter future than was generally believed.
SBC Warburg has for long suggested the shares were undervalued. And Panmure Gordon is believed to be on the verge of publishing a 55-page buy circular, suggesting the price should be around 125p.Since the British Gas demerger Centrica has had a volatile time. Early takeover speculation drove the shares to 75p but then the market became convinced the company, with its North Sea take-and-pay disasters, was a demerger from hell and the shares hit 56.25p.Centrica is showing a surprising ability to renegotiate its problem contracts and earlier this month achieved what is expected to be the first of a series of continental gas supply deals.On the downside is the windfall tax which, at around pounds 200m, is perhaps more than Centrica had expected and indications of further regulatory difficulties.BG, the old British Gas, fell 2p to 239.5p; it has recently been up to 251.5p.The rest of the market had another indecisive session. Yesterday they were unchanged at 18.25p, an all-time low.Mr Conlan said yesterday there was “tremendous potential” in Trocadero. The company’s clients include Burger King and Mars.Some observers said Zenith was also especially hard to value since several senior executives – in particular Christine Walker, Zenith’s high-profile chief executive – had left the company in recent months Cordiant is capitalised at almost pounds 600m.. Trocadero, owner of the eponymous leisure centre at London’s Piccadilly Circus, yesterday announced a virtual clean sweep of the board by former executives of First Leisure with the appointment of John Conlan as chairman and Nick Tamblyn as managing director.

He added: “Zenith is owned by Cordiant and it is not for sale. It is part of the architecture of demerger.”He said SBC Warburg was the company’s investment bank of record.No one at Zenith was available for comment last night.Potential buyers for Zenith could include Martin Sorrell’s WPP – which recently paid pounds 10.2m for a 14.4 per cent stake in another media buyer, CIA Group – Aegis, and CIA. Some City sources also suggested management might be interested in buying the outfit.However, City analysts were unsure how much Zenith could fetch as much of its business is shared with Bates and Saatchi. It is understood advertising agencies and media owners have been approached, but that no single party has entered serious discussions.A source close to Cordiant admitted: “A number of people are scratching their heads deciding how to make a quick buck out of the parts of Cordiant.”But a spokesman for the holding company said selling Zenith was not on the agenda. The demerger plan has left all three companies vulnerable to takeover, and Zenith has been attempting to tie up a partnership with another agency – in part as a defensive move to deter predators.A Morgan insider said that the plan to put together a deal was just a “bright idea”, and that the investment house was not acting for Cordiant or Zenith.