China crisis for Eurocity's Bloom

DESMOND Bloom, property developer, rock guitarist and former bodyguard to late pop star Screaming Lord Sutch, faces the sack - along with his son Baron - from the board of Aim-listed Eurocity Properties.

An ambitious deal to buy a building project in China for £39m is being challenged by one of Eurocity's major shareholders, Andrew Perloff of Panther Securities. He has called an extraordinary general meeting to replace the Blooms. Perloff has a reputation for shaking up companies with sleepy management and high overheads. He said: 'This is madness. What is a small London property company doing messing around in China?' Perloff claims 41% support for his sacking resolution.

Bloom senior, who has twice received hefty payments for leaving lossmaking firms, said: 'We don't want to be a run-of-the-mill company and have been looking for innovative deals.'