Hat Pin fires chief after four months

A HEADHUNTING firm that prides itself on finding perfect candidates for senior posts has admitted to a less-than-ideal appointment in its own boardroom.

Hat Pin today fired its chief executive David Dumeresque after just four months, accusing him of failing to cultivate new revenue streams.

Chairman Gay Haines will resume the role of chief executive at the company, which trades as Kendall Tarrant. Severance terms with Dumeresque are being negotiated.

Dumeresque, 46, was hired to expand Hat Pin outside its core advertising industry market and win business from media owners. 'Unfortunately, he has not succeeded to date in establishing these in the current economic climate, which the company believes is unlikely to materially change for some time,' Hat Pin said.

It is raising £525,000 by selling deeply discounted new shares to selected investors, including Haines and entrepreneur Bob Morton. The directors other than Haines said the terms of 30p against a closing price yesterday of 45p were fair and reasonable.

Hat Pin slumped to a pretax loss of £1.1m last year after profits of £643,000 in 2000, but returned to the black in the first quarter of 2002.