Joe Dwek leaves the Worthington Group

JOE Dwek has stepped down as chairman of the AIM-listed investment business the Worthington Group.

In a stock market announcement the Wilmslow-based group said Mr Dwek had left the board, “following a period of transition and handover to the new directors”.

The statement added: “The board would like to formally record its thanks to Joe for all the hard work and time that he has put into the company over the years where he has overseen an orderly wind down of the company’s textile assets and the repayment of substantial bank borrowings, leaving the company free of all bank debt and with cash in the bank.

Mr Dwek, a high profile figure in the Manchester business community, was the chief executive of engineering firm Bodycote International from 1972 to 1999 and now sits on the board of the North West Development Agency.

The Worthington Group was once a textiles business but is now a cash shell which owns five acres in the centre of Keighley, West Yorkshire, and also holds a stake in a Derby-based textiles firm.

Chief executive Peter Townsend said: “I would like to thank Joe for the many years he has served on the board of the company and would also like to thank him personally for the warm welcome he has given to myself and Anthony Cooke since our appointments to the board.

“Joe’s help and insight into the affairs of the company over the transitional period has proved invaluable and I wish him every success in the future.”