Fraser casualty of fall in profits at Cory

Ocean Group, the freight and marine group, announced the departure of Colin Fraser, chief executive of McGregor Cory, its contract distribution arm, writes James Bethell.

Mr Fraser, who earned pounds 100,000 a year, was on a three- year rolling contract. A company spokesman said, however, that this would not necessarily be the basis of a compensation settlement.

The move comes against a background of falling profits and tighter margins at Cory. 'We need to accelerate the rate of improvement at McGregor Cory,' said John Allan, the chief executive, who moved from BET last month.

McGregor Cory was one of the first entrants into the contract delivery business, but was soon overtaken by NFC and Tibbett & Britten. Falling profits in the freight division helped drive down last month's group results. In the first half of 1994, McGregor Cory earned pounds 3.2m on a pounds 51.2m turnover, down 19 per cent from 1993. 'This is the first sign of new management flexing its muscles in a disappointing area of the business after rivals have stolen market share,' an analyst said.