Meetings resisting Kode calls for full warranties, administrating Grove House purchase and preparing and circulating Comart Board papers before home early to set off on The Lady for the weekend on a damp evening as business sentiment is also dampened by the Gulf War and Miner’s strike
Awake on time though tired from yesterday’s tensions and time to read today’s Times quite well. News also of yesterday’s stock exchange falls and the reasons for it. Up to a breakfast of toast and fruit juice and rather late to the office, arriving a few minutes after 8.30am. To my office and to relax with some management readings awaiting, for once, developments to occur and standing by accordingly. The first was the arrival of Stephen Day together with Peat Marwick’s George and the Kode Company Secretary. They try to get me to accept that their merchant bank are insisting on full warranties, but I fail to rise to the bait and ask to defer judgement until legal advice is at hand to me. Later they also try to get me to defer the Grove House acquisition which I also successfully resist.
It seems that the Secretary is trying to reopen a number of issues through concern on the one hand and not wishing to be left out on the other. I predict he will either have to go once the merger is complete or will queer the deal in the meantime. Incoming phone calls from Chris Evans of Vinters on the Grove House completion and from Richard James of Ashursts on the latest ideas for capital duty avoidance and treatment of the profit sharing scheme. Also conversations with Elizabeth Gatling of Ashursts on the actions planned against Plume and Mercantile Leasing. Time between to complete the personnel report and ensure that the Comart Board papers are duly prepared and circulated. Home by 4.45pm and a good hour helping the family prepare the boat for a weekends cruise. Many trips back and forth until all ready and we set off. The weather is now wet and cool and we cruise through Offord and Brampton locks in waterproofs, damp but content. At last to moor at Godmanchester and watch the news before retiring to bed. A quiet late evening with mixed thoughts of the Gulf War and Miner’s strike affecting business prospects and the indecent and rather selfish way in which my Directors are conducting their negotiations with Kode. We’ll see!