Pressing matters for Torex as SFO swoops

Pressing matters for Torex as SFO swoops

By Philip Stafford and Jonathan Guthrie

FINANCIAL TIMES
Published: January 31 2007 22:18 | Last updated: January 31 2007 22:18

There were no signs of Chris Moore behind the iron gates of his Oxfordshire home on Wednesday morning.

The man who has played a central role in Torex Retail and its predecessor companies for more than 20 years had pressing business.

Mr Moore yesterday stepped aside as chairman of Torex Retail a day after the Serious Fraud Office said that it had started an investigation into the affairs of the retail software company and had searched three homes near its Oxfordshire offices.

Neither the SFO nor Torex Retail has said whose homes were searched.

Neil Mitchell, the company’s chief executive, also stepped aside, although both remain on the board.

Mr Moore is a fast-talking charismatic figure who comes across more like a self-made entrepreneur than a decorous quoted company boss.

He is fiercely proud of the businesses he created and his home looks every bit the residence of the multi-millionaire entrepreneur – an imposing farmhouse surrounded by outbuildings and grounds.

Lunchtime drinkers in Mr Moore’s local said that he dropped in regularly and was well liked.

After qualifying as a certified accountant following a four-year training period with Simon Engineering, Mr Moore briefly be-came finance manager at Oxford Instruments.

His introduction to what was to become Torex came in 1989, when he led a management buy-out of an Oxfordshire-based company called Smart Terminals.

Founded in 1983, Smart Terminals started with a commission to provide a bespoke software product for Argos, the retailer. Mr Moore became its chief executive.

The group changed its name to Torex and listed on the stock exchange in 1996 when it was bought by Torex Hire. Revenues and earnings continued to inc-rease and the group rose to the FTSE 250 index.

The group also moved into healthcare software, which led to a planned merger with rival Isoft in 2003.

Mr Moore became chief executive of the enlarged Isoft in December 2003 but resigned two months later, after what Isoft said was “the completion of a detailed strategic review”.

The two parties praised each other publicly although Isoft later admitted there had been a dispute concerning the termination of Mr Moore’s employment. The details of this dispute and the terms of its subsequent amicable resolution remain confidential.

Mr Moore returned to part of the business nine months later, in November 2004, when he was asked to be non-executive deputy chairman of Torex Retail.

This was the retail division of the enlarged Isoft, which was purchased by a management buy-out team led by Rob Loosemore, the former business development director at Torex.

With the help of Evolution Beeson Gregory, the brokers, Torex Retail was floated on Aim in March 2004.

Mr Moore took over as chief executive of Torex Retail in February the next year, later also assuming the chairmanship.

Last year he explored the possibility of taking the company private but this went nowhere and he began scaling down his involvement with the company.

He became non-executive chairman and, in September, brought in Neil Mitchell as chief executive. Mr Mitchell is thought to have sought buyers for the business.

Even though he ceased being chairman on Wednesday, Mr Moore continues to hold 4.8 per cent of the company and remains on the board.

Like many entrepreneurs, Mr Moore has found time for football. He became chairman of the Oldham Athletic football club in May 2001 and promised a return to the Premiership.

However, the club fell further into financial difficulties and Mr Moore stepped down.

He had not made himself popular with some fans. One group travelled to Oxfordshire and burned an effigy of him outside Torex Retail’s headquarters.