Greenwich strikes gold

GREENWICH Resources, the gold mining company chaired by former Labour MP Colin Phipps, has won a court battle for its share of profits from one of Australia's biggest mines, writes Antonia Feuchtwanger. The decision could boost the shares, which closed on Friday at 153/4p.

On Thursday an Australian court ruled in favour of Greenwich in its dispute with Australia's Pancontinental, owner of the expanding Paddington gold mine. Three years ago new accounting practices were applied to the calculation of Greenwich's right to an eighth of the mine's net profits, reducing its share from A$2m-A$3m a year (pounds 896,000-pounds 1.3m), first to A$1m and then to a trickle.

Putting Greenwich's share back to where it was is worth perhaps A$8m - or 3p a share. The future value of the reinstated earning stream could be much more. Dr Phipps said: "Pancontinental now has a new board. This is a problem of the old regime. We are confident we can come to a swift and amicable arrangement." Pancontinental is now owned by Australia's Renison.

While the amounts involved were relatively small to Pancontinental they were significant to Greenwich, which has interests in Sudan, the Czech Republic and Greece. Shareholders have been through some grim times since the shares nudged pounds 4.50 in 1987.