It looked like a clear case of musical differences at the London-quoted Mean Fiddler Group this week. In a move reminiscent of a good old-fashioned rock music bust up, the company removed its newly-appointed chief executive after a series of reported rows with other managers.
But after all the upheaval of the last seven days, the man who was originally supposed to have left the spotlight, the music promoter's Irish founder Mr Vince Power, has been left very much in charge.
Just days after he stepped into the job, the board ousted chief executive Mr Dean James on Tuesday. The company's statement simply said that he had "regrettably been removed from the board with immediate effect".
Sources say that there had been tensions in several areas of the company after he took over. One manager and shareholder, Mr Melvyn Benn, resigned within hours of Mr James taking the helm. Mr Benn was a key figure, responsible for the festivals side of the business, which includes ownership of Reading and a 34 per cent share in the UK's biggest music event, Glastonbury.
Mr James's departure knocked over a carefully arrayed row of dominoes that were part of the plan to move the company to the next stage of its development.
First, Mr Power is being reinstated as chairman and chief executive, at least until a new one is recruited. A deal that would have seen him sell his entire holding of 21.5 million shares for about €18 million now will not go ahead.
His stake was to be sold as part of a 34.7 million share sale, priced at 55 pence sterling each, that would also have seen Mr Harry Lambert and two companies, Scanfrost Ltd and Ashwell Ltd, dispose of their stakes in the business. That was also unwound.
Mean Fiddler was also going to issue 10.2 million new shares for 55 pence each to raise £5.6 million for general working capital purposes.
The company's statement said that the sale and placement had been put in "abeyance" but a spokesman made it clear during the week that the period of abeyance would be a long time.
In a third strand, Mean Fiddler is not going to complete a conditional agreement to buy its digital partner, Media Internet Telecom (MIT) Ltd, in what was to be an all shares deal.
The 12 million-plus shares that would have changed hands as a result of this deal would have left MIT boss Mr Richard Clingen with a 15 per cent stake in the newly enlarged Mean Fiddler. He was also going to take over the chairmanship. Obviously, that's not going to happen either.
The whole exercise was geared towards opening the company's shares to the financial markets and putting it in a position to raise capital and expand.
The Mean Fiddler is nominally a public listed company. But in reality, it involves just a handful of people, rather like a band. Mr Power has 35 per cent, making him the frontman, Irish promoter Mr Denis Desmond has 24 per cent held through his promotions company MCD - the equivalent in share-owning terms of lead guitar.
Four others play back-up roles, Mr Lambert has 8 per cent, while Mr Benn and the two companies, Scanfrost and Ashwell, which are ultimately owned by a Danish entity, Caravell, have 6 per cent each. This leaves a 15 per cent free float.
The company has 61 million shares in issue. After the proposed share sale, placement and issue of new shares, Mean Fiddler would have had over 80 million shares, with between 60 per cent and 70 per cent in the hands of financial institutions who would have been free to trade them.
Messrs Clingen, Desmond and Benn would have held the remainder, while the chairman and chief executive would have retained a number of options.The company would have looked a lot more like a plc.
At 55p, Mean Fiddler would have had a market capitalisation of £45 million. Between savings and expected earnings, Mr James had told potential institutional investors that the company could deliver about £8 million in profits this year. That is the only tune investors like to hear.
Since 2001, Mean Fiddler has accumulated losses of £12.6 million. But it looked to be on the verge of turning this around.
Its recent interim results showed that losses in the six months to the end of June dropped to £1.6 million from £3.3 million in 2003. That period did not cover its lucrative music festivals.
Mr James's exit and the general confusion that followed wiped 22 per cent off the share price during the week. It closed at 44 pence last night, exactly 20 per cent less than the various institutions were willing to pay last week.
When you consider that the company was to issue over 20 million new shares, it could be argued that the loss is more than 20 per cent. Either way, it means that Mr Power's own investment, along with those of his colleagues, is worth a lot less than it was a week ago. A spokesman told the media this week that while his shares were for sale at 55 pence, he's not letting go at the current price.
That seems a high price to pay for the loss of one executive. But some reports claim that there was at least one other factor, Mr Denis Desmond. He did not know of the proposed placement and share sale.
A spokesman told The Irish Times this week that the company was not obliged to seek shareholder approval for the various elements of the shake up.
Thus if the board was going to tell all the shareholders at the same time - that is when it told the market in line with Stock Exchange rules - then it could not single him out for special treatment.
A number of reports have since said that he opposed the plan as soon as he found out, and this prompted a re-think. When he bought 16 per cent of the company last year from Mr Power, Mr Desmond did state that he intended joining the board.
However, that has not happened and this kept him out of the loop.
A Mean Fiddler spokesman said that he couldn't comment on Mr Desmond's position. Unfortunately, neither can Mr Desmond: his staff say he's abroad and uncontactable until next week.
Whatever his view, Mr Power is back for the time being and a spokesman told The Irish Times he is as enthusiastic as ever about running the company.
It remains to be seen whether this is a full-scale return or a brief encore.
