ALWIN Thompson, the colourful executive chairman of north west cake maker Inter Link Foods, has been forced to quit on health grounds.

It follows a steady decline in his health over the past 12 months, the AIM-listed company said in a statement.

His deputy, Jeremy Hamer, has replaced him and he has resigned as a director of the business he co-founded in 1994.

Mr Hamer said: "This is a very sad day for Inter Link Foods, but Alwin's priority must be his health. Under his leadership the company became one of the leading AIM success stories, and his legacy must now be built on by his successors.

"We all wish him a speedy recovery and a very happy retirement."

Mr Thompson, 59, started Inter Link with Colin Davies after buying the loss-making cake and pie maker Crossfield Foods, of Blackburn, for é400,000. He developed Inter Link into the country's second largest cake maker through strong organic growth and a series of acquisitions, including the Soreen malt loaf business in Trafford Park and expansion in Poland.

Inter Link floated in 1998 and was named AIM company of the year in 2003. In 2004 it won the M.E.N. Business of the Year title for companies turning over more than é50m.

Expansion

Its rapid expansion continued until it issued a shock profits warning last May after a trading slump. News emerged that Mr Thompson and other directors were trying to raise private equity funding for a management buyout. But takeover talks collapsed in October. That month, chief executive Paul Griffiths quit his é200,000-a-year job to pursue charity interests, becoming chief of Gorton Monastery Trust.

In January, the company slipped into the red after poor sales in the hot summer weather and a difficult start at its new central distribution centre in Warrington. Turnover fell almost seven per cent in the six months to November 4. In the past year, shares tumbled from 780p to 284p, although recovering to 391.5p.

Mr Thompson, a married father of two, lives in Cheshire and is a keen Manchester United supporter who grew up in Lev-enshulme and was a ball boy at Old Trafford in the early 1960s.

Northern Foods, the company which Inter Link overtook to gain second place in the UK cake-making stakes, has announced that chief executive Pat O'Driscoll is to leave and be succeeded by Stefan Barden.

Last month, the maker of Holland's Pies, Goodfella's pizzas, Fox's biscuits and Pork Farm pies said trading conditions remained tough, but it still expected results to meet full-year forecasts.

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