New chairman at Storm

Richard Thompson, chairman of Queens Park Rangers football club, has been appointed chairman of Storm Group, the animation and licensing company that owns the rights to Paddington Bear and The Wombles.

Storm is also acquiring Mr Thompson's media interests which include sports production, personality management and video production comapanies for £715,000 in new Storm shares. Mr Thompson replaces Jim Driscoll, who will stay on as a non-executive director.