Chesterfield Properties has been forced to rethink how to offload its entertainments division after talks on a possible deal with MEPC were called off this week.
Chairman Roger Wingate, who is also the largest shareholder, put the whole company up for sale last month. This followed several unsuccessful attempts to dispose of the Mayfair Entertainments group, which owns London theatres.
Analysts said that Chester-field’s options include bringing in a new shareholder to buy Wingate’s stake.
Alternatively, the company could buy back shares from Wingate or swap the theatres for his stake.
Chesterfield has knocked £2.3m off the value of Mayfair Entertainments, now in its books at £20m. The write-down was revealed in the company’s annual results for the year to December, published this week.
Chesterfield’s net asset value was up 16% to 612p per share and pretax profits rose from £1.7m to £3.7m. The profits include the effect of the entertainment’s write-down and a £2.4m cut in the value of the Hialeah retail park in Florida, US.
