Tycoon Green returns to action with Tangent

London: Michael Green, the media tycoon who gave a 27-year-old David Cameron a job at his firm Carlton Communications, has taken his first seat on a public-company board for five years by becoming chairman of Tangent Communications.

Green is the largest shareholder in Tangent, an Aim-traded digital marketing and printing business, with a 30.1 per cent stake. His nephew Tim Green is chief executive of the company.

The appointment was made as Tangent reported pre-tax profits up 38.1 per cent to £1.45 million (Dh8.41 million) for the year to February 29.

The co-founder and chairman of Carlton Communications, which in 2004 merged with Granada to form ITV, Green has also held board positions at Reuters and the Media Trust. In recent years, he has also qualified as a psychotherapist.

He succeeds Piers Caldecote, a former Carlton director, who has served as Tangent's non-executive chairman since its Aim debut seven years ago.

Tangent is named after the printing business which Green and his brother David set up before it evolved into Carlton.

Drop in sales

Sales at Tangent fell 3 per cent to £21.7 million last year, in part due to the absence of a one-off £1 million contract with the Labour party around the general election and a drop in sales to estate agents at its print division.

However, despite a slight decline in revenues at its digital unit, profitability improved with the merger of six separate agencies into Tangent Snowball and growth in Asia and Australia. Tangent's clients include Carlsberg, Citroën and Tata.

Operating margins at the print unit were also lifted by a move towards direct sales to small businesses. Tangent said that the second half of the current financial year would "best demonstrate growth prospects from increased customer numbers and new business".

— Financial Times