Following a relatively disappointing year of trading and a lacklustre shareprice performance, intellectual property group Chorion is to sell Noddy, The Famous Five and its other children's rights interests 'to maximise' shareholder value. Director Nick Tamblyn expects the assets to fetch £30 million, writes Leslie Copeland

That Chorion expects its Enid Blyton interests to fetch so much is an indication of how much its board believes the entire group – which includes a division encompassing a majority interest in the Agathe Christie and Georges Simenon rights – to be undervalued.

At the current 3.25p – down from its original price of 11p when it demerged from Urbium earlier this year – Chorion is valued at just £16.82 million.

According to Tamblyn, the stock market's perception of the company is very much at odds with the progress that has been achieved and the underlying asset base.

He also adds that although the group had previously warned that it would not meet its profits targets for the year because of various project delays (and also flagged-up a £0.5 million bad debt that would further dent full year results), the decision to sell the children's division was not the result of corporate panic.

Says Tamblyn 'its true that we have endured a tough year, and we are disappointed with our shareprice. But there have been very many positives'. For him, these include the fact that a new Noddy video sold 23,762 units in its first week of sale, the record morning viewing figures secured by Make Way for Noddy on Channel 5, and the fact that three Poirot movies will be delivered by Chorion's adult division in 2003. Other film projects are also being advanced.

If and when the sale of Noddy et al is completed, many analysts expect the group to return a proportion of the cash to investors in the form of a special dividend. The rest will most probably be devoted to acquiring other interests to bolster the adult intellectual property.

News of the proposed sale and potential windfall payment however failed to lift the shares which fell a further 0.5p today.