Dorling resolves 'lost sales' dispute

DORLING Kindersley, the children's book publisher, has reached an out-of-court settlement with its distributor, Tiptree Book Services, bringing an end to a dispute over lost sales last Christmas.

Tiptree has agreed to pay an undisclosed cash sum to compensate Dorling for loss of turnover. Tiptree will be replaced as Dorling's distributor at the end of July by Rugby-based International Book Distributors.

Dorling claims the problems at Tiptree's warehouse were partly responsible for the profit warning issued last December, when it said profits for the year to June 1994 would be below last year's pounds 9.65m. This compared with forecasts of pounds 11.5m.

Difficulties arose with a new computerised distribution system, which uses a bar code system to automatically select books ordered by customers and then packs them.

A spokesman for Tiptree said: 'There were delays in deliveries, not lost sales. There has been an amicable solution, and there has been a small compensation payment.'