Speculation is rife about the future of The Donside Paper Company after it emerged that chief executive Bill Gore has decided to step down.


Gore apparently made the decision after putting together a financial restructuring package for the company with the Royal Bank of Scotland.


Chief operating officer Mike Duckett has become chief executive with immediate effect, with Gore becoming non-executive director.


Gore's decision will leave him with more time to pursue his other directorships outside of the paper industry, including a restaurant in Edinburgh.


The restructuring package involves the extension of financial agreements put in place at the time of Gore's MBO of Donside in 1997.


A summary of Donside's accounts revealed that it reported a heavy loss for the first quarter of this year.


The company's last set of filed results, for the 51 weeks to August 1998, showed a 4.5m loss on sales of 43.8m.


Last month, industry sources speculated that Gore was planning to buy Inveresk's Westfield Mill (PrintWeek, 27 October).


Donside signed an exclusive merchanting deal with Howard Smith Paper last month (PrintWeek, 13 October), but this is said to be unaffected by the changes in management.


Gore and Duckett were unavailable for comment.


Story by Andy Scott