Pembroke: Casino investors keen to have results tabled

A PALTRY gathering of no more than 20 shareholders turned up at the first annual meeting of Crockfords, the top-notch Mayfair casino, yesterday. Equally thin on the ground were salient questions put to the board.

One shareholder, clearly lusting after a glimpse of the green baize tables and roulette wheels, wanted to know why they had to hold the annual meeting in the Hambro bank rather than Crockfords itself. Lack of space, Garry Nesbitt, the chairman, said, precluded the illustrious casino from being used, and it contravenes the gaming laws, which state that only members should be allowed on the premises. 'It would be nice to look round the place,' grumbled one.

THE EXIT of Ann Iverson from the chief executive's chair at Mothercare has knocked a hole in the Veuve Cliquot businesswoman of the year award. Ms Iverson, who is returning to her native America, was one of five on the shortlist for this year's award, to be announced at Claridge's on Thursday. But fear not, the champagne people have been saved.

'We made the decision on Friday and she hasn't won,' a champers spokesperson says. Ms Iverson, who knows the award will not be finding its way onto her mantelpiece, will not be on hand to offer her congratulations to the winner on Thursday. She is in Chicago on business.

OH DEAR. Someone might be for the high jump at NatWest Markets after a broker's note on the construction group Heywood Williams went out last week. The report, which recommended the shares as a short-term hold, spoke glowingly of the way the company has offloaded its core glass business to Pilkington and spent the proceeds on businesses in the US. Helpfully, the note shows a map of the US interests. Except the subsidiaries listed - such as Parker Paints - are not owned by Heywood Williams at all but by its not-very-near namesake Williams Holdings.

FURTHER to this column's reports on the upswing in cannabis cultivation among the English farming community, I hear that the Irish are getting in on the act. Ireland's Agriculture and Food Development Authority has asked for a licence to grow an experimental crop of hemp in Carlow, 60 miles south of Dublin.

Hemp is part of the marijuana family but contains only low levels of the drug. A rural spliff- seeker would have to smoke a sackful of the stuff to get a kick.

Hemp is not currently grown in Ireland but the idea is to test whether the crop will flourish and what its uses might be. 'I suppose we are just following the trend,' a spokesman for Afda says.

THINGS in the building industry are clearly not getting any better. Just ask the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. The RICS had planned to set the world alight next week with its private finance initiative conference. But the gathering has been cancelled. Not enough delegates wanted to come.

THE INSTABILITY in South Africa ahead of the forthcoming elections has not put off Barings, the merchant bank. It has announced plans to open an office in Johannesburg. 'Obviously it is a tricky time but we are taking a wider and long-term view,' a Barings man says. 'We believe the new South Africa will emerge from this and be the hub of the whole southern Africa region.'

WE ARE all set for an enthralling insight into what makes a successful management buyout manager tick. The business school at City University has just been awarded funding to delve into the psyche and reveal the personality traits of the MBO brigade. 'The findings will make a significant contribution to the thinking of venture capitalists and managers,' a spokesman says hopefully.

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