It seemed wrong, somehow, to include a story about the travails of Chorion, the company that owns Mr Men, Noddy, Poirot and Raymond Chandler, in the round-up of the weekend’s literary pages. But the news that the firm is close to entering administration made its way into both the Sunday Times and the Telegraph. Were it not for the boom of interest around Michael Ondaatje’s latest novel, The Cat’s Table, Chorion might have been the leading literary story of the weekend.
The outlook is pretty bleak. The Bookseller reports that Chorion has debts of £70m, annual interest payments of £35m and £16m of earnings, according to its annual accounts. The form has also been mired in internal squabbles. Recent attempts to restructure the company were vetoed by Chorion’s financial backers; the management have since resigned.
Despite those difficulties, there are hopes that Chorion may yet survive and most reports note that administration is very much the last resort. The Bookseller adds:
‘In recent weeks, a number of private equity firms, including Searchlight Capital, have considered investing in Chorion.’
But confidence about the health of the sector is low and a takeover is far from certain. It’s a reminder, if one was needed, that this remains a hugely difficult market.
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