Northern & Shell (N&S) still plans to take action against West Ferry directors despite settling the dividend versus debt dispute.


N&S, joint owner of West Ferry, had refused to pay West Ferry for a reported 6m print bill until it was paid its share of an 11m dividend. It had accumulated the print bill since it bought the Express last year.


A spokeswoman for N&S said: West Ferry has finally agreed payment of the outstanding dividend of around 8m owed to Express Newspapers. N&S has met the outstanding printing bills and additional costs owed to it.


But she added: N&S is pursuing its legal action against the individual directors of West Ferry. It has gone way beyond the conceptual stage and is in the hands of N&Ss lawyers.


The Telegraph exercised its option to buyout N&S 50% stake earlier this year (PrintWeek 12 January) but the sides have yet to agree on an arbitrator to determine West Ferrys value.


Story by John Davies