A new Lloyd Webber opening

The composer's newspaper ambitions are serious, writes Mathew Horsman

If the composer Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber really does end up owning part of a national newspaper, it will have been a deal launched over a capital lunch.

The prolific Sir Andrew met the bean king, Dr Tony O'Reilly for a two- hour meal recently, during which the two discussed the financial prospects of what is left of Fleet Sreet. Sir Andrew, it transpired, would quite like to own the Express, and wondered whether Dr O'Reilly, whose Heinz group is best known for its baked beans, would like to help him win it. It appears that Dr O'Reilly, who already owns the Irish Independent and other Irish titles, as well as 43 per cent of Newspaper Publishing, publishers of the Independent and the Independent on Sunday, listened more than he talked.

It would not be completely beyond the realm of possibility for Sir Andrew's Really Useful Group to stump up some cash for a national newspaper - to go from Starlight Express to the Daily Express.

The privately held group, in which the entertainment giant PolyGram has a 30 per cent interest, has set itself the task of becoming a "broadly based entertainment company," investing the fruits of Sir Andrew's uncanny commercial acumen into new businesses.

It is already highly profitable. The company has low costs and generates most of its revenues through the exploitation of copyrights to many of Sir Andrew's big-selling musicals - Cats, Phantom of the Opera and the like. In 1994, for example, it had operating profits of pounds 46.2m on turnover of pounds 110m, 83 per cent of it earned overseas.

Sir Andrew himself was paid a whopping pounds 19m for his services as "composer", while another pounds 36m went to other creative talent. This, clearly, is a people business.

That is one reason Sir Andrew decided to take the group private in 1990, following a mere four years as a publicly quoted company. He was tired of having to write hit musicals merely to keep the share price up. He also wanted to branch out - into films, television, games and now newspapers.

In the past five years, profits have risen 400 per cent as the Lloyd Webber juggernaut rolled out internationally. Last year, there were 31 Really Useful productions in 12 countries, generating a box office of $4bn. To date, 100 million people have seen a Lloyd Webber show.

But can the genius behind such hits as Jesus Christ Superstar (not a Really Useful copyright) and the most recent hit, Sunset Boulevard, successfully diversify?

The early indications are mixed. Certainly the company's move into theatre ownership and management has been profitable. But its television and movie productions are still in their infancy: an animated version of Cats is in the works, and the company promises seven more films over the next five years.

And newspapers are but an idea: one of a hundred ideas Sir Andrew brings to the company every year, according to a spokesman. "It is far too early to say what form the interest will take, whether there will be partners and whether any offer for the Express group will be made," the spokesman said.