The group is likely to lose its place in the FTSE 100 tomorrow.Woolworths 34.5p (down 0.75p, 2.1 per cent). Baird cut its earnings forecasts on the retailer amid concerns about the slowing DVD market.Minerva 269.5p (down 5p, 1.8 per cent). Sells The Criterion property in London for £112m.Volex 80p (down 1p, 1.2 per cent). Unveils a £15.6m fund raising to finance the group's planned restructuring.Aga Foodservice 304p (down 1.75p, 0.6 per cent) Buys Waterford Stanley for £8.7m..
Until recently Frank Timis, the chairman of Regal Petroleum, was the darling of the Alternative Investment Market (AIM). Today he finds his reputation under attack in Australia, Britain, Canada and in his native Romania. He quickly became known as a businessman investors wanted to follow. Having based his activities in London, he floated three companies on AIM- Regal Petroleum, European Goldfields and Sierra Leone Diamond Corporation - and attracted an enthusiastic following among blue-chip institutional investors.All this is now under threat.
Regal's great oil prospect in Greece could be worthless, the company admitted last month, causing its share price to collapse. The shares of European Goldfields and Sierra Leone Diamond Corporation, which share offices with Regal, have also suffered.Over the weekend, investors' attention switched to Romania, where Mr Timis was born (he still speaks with a heavy Romanian accent). Allegations surfaced that Mr Timis is named in three separate criminal investigations in the country, including an inquiry by the branch that combats organised crime, corruption and drugs. A letter has appeared, apparently from a top official in the Romanian judiciary, stating the existence of the three inquiries. By yesterday, the allegations were being denied by Romanian officials."Frank Timis is not currently being investigated by the Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors," Gabriela Neagu, a spokeswoman of Romania's Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, said.A spokesman for Regal said yesterday that Mr Timis would seek, in writing, from the Romanian authorities an assurance that he is not under any criminal investigation there.One of the biggest coups of Mr Timis's career was securing the licence to mine at Europe's largest gold project, in Romania's Apuseni mountains, which is still the source of much resentment in the country.His reputation in Romania is clearly very important to Mr Timis, whether or not he has London investors to keep happy. It is here that he made a triumphant return in the 1990s, promising investment in the country and help in its relations with the West.According to his own account to his life, he escaped from communist Romania in 1979, aged 16, by walking for 40 nights over the border and through the former Yugoslavia, finally reaching Trieste in Italy.
