Creative head goes at Rupert TV group - Business - Evening Standard
       

Creative head goes at Rupert TV group

The chief creative brain at Postman Pat and Rupert Bear group Entertainment Rights has followed the boss out of the door as the group clears out a third of its staff before Christmas in return for a bigger overdraft from its bank.

The kids' TV distribution and merchandising group parted company with chief executive Nick Phillips last week after just nine months.

Now Jane Smith, chief creative and commercial director and a veteran of the market, has cleared her desk with immediate effect. She joins 50 of the company's 150 staff leaving this month.

There have been serious fears that Entertainment Rights would follow its key customer, Woolworths, into bankruptcy.

However, the group today said its lenders, Halifax-Bank of Scotland group HBOS, is extending the group's £130 million overdraft by £13 million to get it through its crucial Christmas selling season, but only until the end of February.

Entertainment Rights today warned its sales this Christmas are later, and will be lower than last year.

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