Cradley Group has appointed Roger Marshall, former managing director of its Britespot Publishing Solution arm, to its main board as commercial director.

A source said the company "seemed to have recognised Marshalls potential. He appears to have been promoted having made such a good job of Britespot."

Marshall has been with the company for just over two years running the contract publishing side.

But there is still no official word on the return of sales director Phil Webster following a three-month sabbatical (PrintWeek, 13 July).

At the time joint managing director Chris Jordan said it "was something we do with our senior people".

Only two weeks ago Jordan confirmed that Webster was due to return, but as PrintWeek went to press there was still no comment from the firm about a likely return date.

Several sources have speculated that Webster has taken the decision to leave the company, and that the sabbatical was merely a cooling-off period in the hope that he would change his mind.

Cradley was due to issue a statement concerning personnel matters after PrintWeek went to press.

In the past few months the group has lost the services of finance director Geoff Gibbons and marketing director Aidan Kidson.

In July Cradley announced it was undertaking a strategic review of its operations, despite winning a number of new contracts.

It also reported a pre-tax loss of 176,000 for the six months to 31 December 2000.

The company is due to announce its year-end results to 30 June 2001 imminently. In March it said they were "not expected to be good".

Story by Andy Scott