Evil Knievil jumps into Corus row

TROUBLED steel giant Corus came under attack at its annual meeting in London today from investors led by Simon Cawkwell, the share raider known on the stock market as Evil Knievil.

Attacking a 'very bad' underlying performance from its UK steel interests, Cawkwell said he regretted the nomination of a director representative of Russian investors had been withdrawn. He said a vote would have shown the depth of investors' disillusion with the board.

Taking issue with a restructuring plan - called Restoring Success - Cawkwell said: 'There is a logic gap there. Corus has never succeeded. Restoring success starts from an impertinent and implausible premise.'

Cawkwell, who claimed to have made a seven-figure sum trading Corus shares, said its British interests are 'a civil service on a subsidy programme from HM Government'.

Multi-millionaire Russian investor Alisher Usmanov withdrew his demand for a representative seat on the board last night but today launched an attack on the group's management, led by chairman Jim Leng. He told the BBC. 'Our opinion is the activity of the Corus board of directors shows how not to manage the corporation.'

Meanwhile, the group said it had returned to an operating profit in the first quarter of the year, although analysts paid the statement little heed. They focused instead on the admission that steel demand remained sluggish in its core European markets. Growth in demand across the Continent this year is expected to be 3%.