According to a report in the Independent on Sunday, top shareholders at the radio group are unhappy with the post-merger structure. This has been made worse by the latest Rajar figures, showing that Capital FM had slipped behind Heart as London's most listened to radio station, and GCap saying that advertising revenues were down by 17% in April.
The situation is similar to that of ITV, formed by the merger of Carlton Communications and Granada. That deal was to see Carlton's Michael Green take up the role of chairman at the merged company, but he was forced out after a shareholder revolt lead by Anthony Bolton of Fidelity Investments. Fidelity is also a major shareholder in GCap.
Bernard and Mansfield's positions had been defended by GCap prior to the merger. Bernard, who was executive chairman of GWR, is to look at the company's move into digital and overall strategy, while former Capital chief executive Mansfield is to look at the operational side.
GCap got off to a poor start when it revealed on its first day that trading for Capital Radio and GWR had proven difficult, with revenues for April down by 21% and 15% respectively. It blamed weak consumer confidence and low spend from traditional top 10 radio advertisers for the falls.
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